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AN 


OUTLINE  HISTORY  OF  ENGLAND 


BY 


JAMES    RICHARD   JOY 


» .   ♦   .  • 


NEW   YORK 
CHAUTAUQUA     PRESS 
C.   I_.  S.  C.   D«|    •i'i,,. 
ISO  Fifth   Aveiiim 
1880 


The  required  books  of  the  C.  L.  S.  C.  are  recommended  by 
a  Council  of  six.  It  must,  however,  be  understood,  that  recom- 
mendation does  not  involve  an  approval  by  the  Council,  or  by 
any  member  of  it,  of  every  principle  or  doctrine  contained  in  the 
book  recommended. 


Copyright,  1890,  by  Hunt  &  Eaton,  150  Fifth  Avenue,  New  York. 


PREFATORY   NOTE. 


It  is  of  prime  importance  that  the  books  of  the  Chautau- 
qua Reading  Course  should  he  clear,  concise,  and  accurate. 
The  author  has  endeavored  to  comply  with  this  threefold 
requirement  in  this  Outliru  History  of  England,  The  story 
of  the  growth  of  Britain,  England,  and  the  British  Empire 
has  been  compressed  within  narrow  limits,  but  there  has 
been  do  sacrifice  of  clearness,  or  of  scrupulous  fidelity  to  the 
truth. 

The  author  makes  no  pretensions  to  originality  of  research, 
and  small  claim  to  freshness  of  statement.  He  would  grate- 
fully acknowledge  assistance  received  from  many  sources  ; 
would  especially  own  his  debt  to  the  following  works :  .1 
Short  Geography  of  (/<>'  British  Teles,  by  .T.  R.  and  Alice  s. 
Green;  Story  of  Early  Britain,  by  Alfred  J.  Church  ;  The 
Vbrmans  in  Europe,  by  A.  II.  Johnson;  Th<  Early  Planta- 
'/.//'/.>-,  by  William  Stubbs ;  Tht  Agt  of  Elizabeth,  by  Man- 
dell  Creighton;  '/'/>•  Puritan  Revolution,  by  S.  R.  Gardiner; 
Oliver  Cromwell' &  Letter*  and  Speeches,  by  Thomas  Carlyle; 
77/<  Fall  of  tht  Stuarts,  by  Edward  Hale;  '/'/"  Age  of  Anne, 
bi  E.  V..  .Morris;  History  of  Napoleon,  bj   I".  Lanfrey;  Con- 

lutionat  History  of  England,  by  Henry  Hallam;  History 
of  Qur  Own  Times,  by  Justin  M'Carthy;  History  of  En- 
gland,  bj   Edith  Thompson;  8hort  History  of  thi   English 


6  .Outline  History  of  England. 

People,  by  John  Richard  Green,  and  the  Universal  Histories 
of  Plcetz,  Labberton,  and  Fisher.  To  those  readers  who  care 
to  fill  in  for  themselves  the  outlines  which  are  sketched  in 
this  volume,  the  histories  of  Green,  Freeman,  Bright,  Stubbs, 
Taswell-Langmead,  and  Hume  are  recommended. 

The  Sketch  of  English  Literature,  by  Henry  A.  Beers, 
which  accompanies  this  book  in  the  Chautauqua  reading 
course  has  enabled  the  author  to  devote  to  other  matters 
the  portion  of  his  space  upon  which  the  writers  of  England 
had  large  claim.  That  work  admirably  supplements  this 
history.  James  Richard  Jot. 


CONTENTS. 


CI1AITKIUI.  rM 

Km, land — Thk   Im.am>  i'k  thk   ENGLISH 13 


CHAPTER  II. 

Tn;     Kaki.v    BuTAINS    am>    Roman     BRITAIN 28 

CHAPTER  III. 
Thk   ENGLISH    KINGDOMS 42 

CHAPTER  IV. 

TlIK    ENGLISH    AM)    THK    NOBTHMIN ..       59 

CHAPTER  V. 

Thk  NOBHAS   <  *<>n^i  j  bobs.    78 

CHAPTER   VI. 
TilK   BtSl   OF  thk   BaBOBB 95 

CHAPTER    VII. 

Thk   I*i.anta<.kski  KlNGfl 112 

CH  LPTER  VIII. 
128 

CHAPTER  IX'. 
I. in'  \-i> i  imi  Fork 146 

CHAPTER  X 

Ti  DOR  Howabchi   159 


8  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

CHAPTER  XL  PAGE 

The  Later  Tudors  178 

CHAPTER  XII. 
The  Stuart  Tyranny 205 

CHAPTER  XIII. 
The  Commonwealth  and  the  Restoration 232 

CHAPTER  XIV. 
The  English  Revolution 251 

CHAPTER  XV. 
The  House  of  Hanover,  or  Brunswick 271 

CHAPTER  XVI. 
Conclusion 293 


-*♦♦- 


MAPS. 

» — 

England 12 

Britain 44 

English  Empire 62 

Dominions  of  House  of   Anjou 96 

British  Possessions 304 


TlIK    S..\  BBBIGNS    OF    K.N'.I   \M>.  0 

THE   SOVEREIGNS   OF   ENGLAND. 
SINCE  THE  NORMAN  CONQUEST. 

WILLIAM  I..  1>.  about  1087,  (L  1087, 
in.  MatUda  <>'  Flandt  r*. 

I 


1 

1 

1 

WILLIAM  11.  (Rufus) 

HENRY  I. 

Adela, 

b.  aboul  ioo<), 

b.  1068, 

d.  1187, 

u.  in". 

(1.  1186, 

m.  Stephen, 

hi.  i.  Matilda  of 

('mint  of 

Scotland. 

1 

lihm  ami  Chartres, 

Matilda, 

STEPHEN, 

d.  1H''7. 

(1.  1164, 

in.  8.  Oeoffn  u  Plan 

111.  Matilda, 

tatfl-llrp.  Cull  lit  of 

Countess  of  Boulogne. 

A  n.h'ii. 
1 

HK.NUY  II. 

• 

i,.  1188,  '1.  1189, 

in.  Eleanor.  Ducht  m 

,,/  .i./inv.n//. . 

! 

I 

| 

1 

Hi'iirv. 

RICHARD  1. 

Geoffrey, 

.1(11  IN. 

1..  1166,  ,|.  1188. 

»>.  1187,  d.  1199. 

b.  1158,  d.  1188, 

b.  1186,  d.  1816, 

111.  ( Sonata 

tn.  •.'.  /mi//.  /  of 

//.  in  n  0/ 

AlHimili'llh  . 

Brittany. 

1 

1 
(8.) 

Arthur, 

Ill  \KV  III. 

Duke  "f 

b.  1807,  ,1. 

Brittany, 

in.  /•;/. anor  <>( 

t>.  1187, 

Prow  net , 

d.  laoa 

i 

EDWARD  I. 

9.  (I.  1807, 
in.  1.  Eli  anor 
ofCastiU . 

1 

(10.) 

EDWARD  II. 

b,  1884, 

murdered  1887, 

in.  /.».//.. /  i<i 

Prance,            . 

1 
(li.i 

1  n\\  AKU   III. 

b.  1818.  .1    1 
in.  Phuippa  <>i 
Hainault. 

Th"  k1njr*nr»>  i>rlnti-<|  in  .Miiiuil* 

ad  numbered  relfrns,  [>'"  nextpage.i 

1* 


10 


An  Outline  History  of  England. 


THE   SOVEREIGNS 

(11.) 

EDWARD 


Edward, 
Prince  of 

Wales, 

b.  1330, 

d.  1376. 

I 
(12.) 

RICHARD  II. 

b.  1366, 

deposed 

1399. 


I 
Lionel, 
Duke  of 
Clarence, 
b.  1338, 
d.  1368. 


Philippa, 

m.  Edmund 

Mortimer, 

Earl  of 

March. 

I 

Roger 

Mortimer, 

Earl  of 

March. 


1.  Blanche, 

daughter  of 

Henry,  Duke  of. 

Lancaster. 


John  of  Gaunt, 

Duke  of 

Lancaster, 

b.  about  1340, 

d.  1399. 


3.  Katharine 
Swynford. 


IV. 
1413, 


(13.) 
HENRY 
b.  1366,  d. 
771. 1.  Mary 
Bnhun. 

I 

(14.) 

HENRY  V. 

b.  1388,  d.  1422, 

m.  Katharine 

of  France,  who 


2.  Owen  Tudor. 


I 


March, 
d.  1424. 


I  (15.) 

Edmund  Anne    HENRY  VI. 

Mortimer,     Mortimer,    b.  1421, 
Earl  of    m.  Richard,  d.  1471, 

Earl     m.  Margaret 
of  Cam-    of  Anjou. 
bridge, 
who  was 
beheaded,  Edward, 

1415.    Prince  of  Wales, 

b.  1453, 

slain  at 

Tewkesbury, 

1471. 


I 

Edmun  1 

Tudor,  Earl 

of  Richmond. 


John  Beaufort, 
Earl  of  Somerset. 


John  Beaufort, 

Duke  of 

Somerset. 

i 


Margaret 
Beaufort. 


I 

(19.) 

HENRY  VII.,  = 

b.  1457,  d.  1509. 


(20.) 
1.  Katharine    =     HENRY  VIII. 
of  Aragon.  b.  1491,  d.  1547. 


=     2.  Anne  Bolcyn.     =     3.  Jane  Seymour. 


(22.) 

MARY, 

b.  1516,  d.  1558, 

m.  Philip  of  Spain. 


(23.) 

ELIZABETH, 

b.  15.33,  d.  1603. 


(21.) 
EDWARD  VI. 
b.  1537,  d.  1553. 


'I'm:   >"\  i  KSI6KS   OP    Kn'.i.anh. 


11 


OF   ENGLAND— continued. 


III. 


1 

Edmund  of 

Laogley, 

Duke  of  York, 
b.  1841,  .1.  1408. 

Richard, 

Karl  of  Cambridge, 

beheaded  mi.\ 

- 

m.  .i  nue 

Mni  liuii  r. 

Richard  Plantagenet, 
Duke  ^f  York, 

slain  at 

Wakefield,  i  too. 

1 

EDWARD  IV. 

b.  1442.  (1.  1488 

in.  'Elizabeth 

Wydt  rilh -. 
1 

George 
Clarence,  b. 

Duke  nf 
149,  d.  1478. 

1 

(IS.  I 

mcHAim  m. 

b.  1458,  d.  1485, 
m.  Anne  Nt  vuu 

-F.llzaU-th. 
•  1.  : 

-it.) 
EDWARD  v. 

b.  1470. 

Richard,        Edward, 
Duke  "f          Karl  <>f 
Fork,           Warwick, 
b.  i  K  -'.        beheaded 
1 199. 

Margaret, 

i  ounteaa  of 

Salisbury, 

beh'd  1541, 

m.  NiC 

Mellaril 
Pole, 

Edward, 

Prino«  of  Wales, 

b.  about  1476, 

d.  1484. 

b.  i»x".  d 
in.  i.  Jam  -  TV. 
Kin 


Ja-m-s  V., 
hint'  nl  B 
d.   II 

'■• 
Queen  "f  Brots, 
.■i..|  I5H7. 

(19.) 

JAMEH  I 

b.  1066,  d.  1685, 

i  ■   / '.  iiimiil.. 


I 

Miirv, 

kl  198,  d.  1588, 

m. '-'.  '  lull  U  i 

Brandon,  Dukt  nf 

Suffolk. 


Prancea  Brandon, 
m.  //<  nru  On  u. 
Duke  of  Suffolk. 

Jam-  (. 
beheaded  1554, 
m.  Lord  OuQford 

I  null.  II. 


' 


12 


Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 


THE   SOVEREIGNS  OP  ENGLAND— continued. 


* 

(24. 

(2 

JAMES  I. 

1 

5.) 

CHARLES  I. 

Elizabeth, 

b.  1600,  beheaded  1649. 

Queen  of 

m. 

Henrietta  M 

aria  of  France. 

Bohemia, 
b.  1596,  d.  1662, 
m.  Freder- 
ick, Elector 

• 

Palatine. 

(26.) 

(27 

) 

\ 

CHARLES  II. 

=  JAMES 

Mary, 

Sophia, 

b.  1630, 

b.  1633, 

b.  1631,  d. 

1660.      d.  1714, 

d.  1685. 

d.  1701. 

m.  William,     m.  Ernest 

Prince  of      Augustus, 

Orange.        Elector  of 

(29* 

Hanover. 

1 
(28.) 

(3 

1 
0.) 

1 
(31.) 

MARY, 

ANNE,      James 

Francis 

WILLIAM 

III.  GEORGE  I. 

b.  1662, 

b.  1665,     Edward  Stuart, 

b.  1650,  d. 

1702.      b.  1660, 

d.  1694. 

d.  1714.           the  Old 

m. 

d.  1727, 

WJ. 

Pretender, 

MARY  OF     m.  Sophia 

WIL1 

ENGLAND.    Dorothea 

1 

| 

of  Zell. 

1 

(32.) 

Charles,         Henry 

GEORGE  II. 

Edward       Benedict 

b.  1683, 

Stuart,  the      Stuart, 

d.  1760, 

Young        Cardinal 

m.  Caroline 

Pretender,       York, 

of  Rrandcn- 

b.  1720,         b.  1725, 

burg- 

d.  1788.         d.  1807. 

Anspach. 
Frederick, 

Prince  of  Wales, 

b.  1707,  d.  1751. 

1 

(33.) 

GEORGE  III. 

b.  1738,  d.  1820. 

m.  Charlotte 

of  Mechlen- 

burg-S 

trelitz. 

1 
(34.) 

1 
(35.) 

| 

| 

GEORGE  IV. 

WILLIAM  IV.    Edward, 

Duke  of  Kent, 

Ernest  Augustus, 

b.  1762,  d. 

1830, 

b.  1765,  d.  1837.           b.  1767, 

King  of  Hanover, 

m.  Caroline  of 

b.  1771,  d.  1851. 

Brunswick-  Wolfenbilttel. 

(36.) 
TORIA, 

Charlotte, 

VIC 

b.  1796,  d. 

1817. 

b 

1819. 

• 

m.  Pi 

'ince  Albert  of  Saxe-Coburg  and  Gotha 

J* 


AN   01     LINE 

ENGLAND. 


ISTOPvY     OF 
♦•*- 


CHAPTER  I. 

ENGLAND-THE  ISLAND  OF  THE  ENGLISH. 

The  thoughtful  student  of  the  marvelous  history  of  En- 
gland, her  rise  from  weakness  and  poverty  to  surpassing 
wealth  and  power,  will  more  than  once  note  to  whal  an  ex- 
tent the  physical  characteristics  of  the  land  have  molded 
the  development  of  the  nation.  The  simplest  of  these  in- 
fluences  has  been  the  mosl  effective,  and  England  is  now  the 
ruler  of  continents  mainly  because  for  centuries  she  was  con- 
fined to  the  narrow  limits  of  an  island.  There  6rs1  she 
learned  to  rule  herself.  It  was  this  insular  position — dis- 
tinct, though  not  distant,  from  Europe — that  delayed  and 
restricted  the  Roman  conquest ;  this  ii  was  which  tempted 
the  Anglo-Saxon  invaders,  and  later  left  them  free  to  con- 
solidate the  kingdom  they  had  won;  and  nol  until  the  Nor- 
man-French monarch-  had  losl  their  continental  dominions 
and  become  -imply  the  lords  of  the  island  did  England  take 
her  rightful  place  a-  mistress  of  the  Beas  and  first  in  the  roll 
of  commercial  empires.  Sitting  thus  by  herself,  removed  a 
-••  p  from  her  brawling  neighbors,  England  has  solved  some 
of  the  hardest  problems  of  government.  Before  proceeding 
to  the  study  of  the  English  people  we  should  give  some  at- 
tention to  their  island  home,  which  ha-  formed  their  national 

character. 
The  British  Isles,  of  whose  area  England  comprises  about 


14  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

one  half,  exceed  five  thousand  in  number,  though  only  two, 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland,  are  of  considerable  size  and  im- 
portance. On  the  westward  the  open  Atlantic,  a  thousand 
miles  wide  and  a  thousand  fathoms  deep,  separates  them 
from  the  American  continent,  and  furnishes  a  roadway  for 
the  commerce  of  two  worlds.  The  North  Sea,  or  German 
X)cean,  rolls  its  shallow  waters  on  the  east,  offering  means  of 
communication  with  the  Baltic  Sea  and  the  hundred  harbors 
of  Northern  Europe.  To  the  south  the  sea  is  constricted 
into  the  Strait  of  Dover,  where  the  French  sentinel  at  Calais 
may  descry  the  chalk  cliffs  of  England  across  twenty  miles 
of  choppy  waves.  The  strait  relaxes  again  in  the  English 
Channel,  which  washes  the  southern  shore  of  England  and 
the  northern  coast  of  France.  Again  tvvo  channels — the 
North  and  St.  George's — with  the  Irish  Sea,  furnish  a  con- 
tinuous water-way  between  the  two  greater  islands  of  the 
British  group.  In  comparison  with  Great  Britain  and  Ire- 
land no  member  of  the  cluster  merits  mention,  but  others  will 
figure  in  this  history,  and  should  not  be  overlooked  in  this 
preliminary  survey.  North  of  Great  Britain  are  two  rocky 
groups,  the  Shetlands — whose  hardy  ponies  are  dear  to  the 
heart  of  boyhood — and  the  Orkneys — some  seventy  weather- 
beaten,  sea-bird-haunted  cliffs.  Westward,  and  not  far  from 
the  Scottish  coast,  are  the  stormy  Hebrides.  Among  these  are 
Lewis,  Skye,  little  Staffa,  famed  for  Fingal's  Cave,  and  Iona, 
the  ancient  center  of  Celtic  Christianity.  Advancing  south- 
ward past  Islay  and  Arran,  the  voyager  in  the  Irish  Sea 
would  reach  the  Isle  of  Man,  and  near  the  coast  of  Wales 
Anglesey,  a  sacred  seat  of  the  Druid  worship  of  the  an- 
cient Britons.  West  of  Land's  End,  at  the  south-western 
angle  of  England,  are  the  Scilly  Islands,  a  welcome  sight  to 
the  eastward-faring  mariner,  and  nestling  close  under  the 
southern  coast  is  the  fair  Isle  of  Wight.  Leagues  away  to 
the  southward  are  cattle-breeding  Jersey,  Guernsey,  Al- 
derney,  and  the  other  Channel  Islands,  like  British  outpostSj 


England — the  Island  <>r  the  English.  15 

l>ut  in  reality  the  paltry  remnant  of  the  once  vasl  continental 
realm  of  England.  The  east  coast  of  Great  Britain  lias  hut 
one  island  that  need  be  named — Holy  Isle,  in  the  German 
( tcean,  near  Tu  •  ed-month. 

Greal  Britain  itself  comprises  abont  two  thirds  of  the 
British  group,  tts  area  is  B4,000  square  miles,  with  a  maxi- 
mum length  of  600  miles,  and  a  breadth  varying  from  33  to 

.  miles  Although  under  a  Bingle  government,  it  is  di- 
vided into  three  sections — Scotland,  Wales,  and  England. 
8  itland  lias  an  area  of  24,000  miles,  a  length  of  286,  and  a 
breadth  of  from  :;::  to  160  miles.  It  is  a  land  of  rugged 
mountains, beautiful  glens,  and  crystal  lakes,  but  its  soil,  save 
in  the  southern  Lowlands,  i-  thin  and  it-  climate  harsh,  and 
neither  in  wealth. nor  population  can  it  compare  with  Wales, 
which  i-  ruffffed,  ami  among  ifs  mountain-masses  descend- 
ants  of  the  ancient  Celtic  race  that  Caesar  found  in  the 
island  linger  yet.  The  principality  covers  7,400  square 
miles,    ami    until    the    .lawn    of   this  century  of  nietals  ami 

.m  the  Welsh  people  were  as  poor  as  they  were  scattered. 

Mining  ami  quarrying  for  coal,  iron,  ami  slate  have  changed 

this  for  the  better.     But   it    is  not  Scotland,  nor  Wales,  nor 

Emerald  Isle,  that  most  concerns  us.     Our  theme  is 

England. 

1  -t  of  Wales  and  south  of  Scotland,  occupying  two 
thirds  of  Great  Britain,  the  choicest  territory  of  the  island, 
i-  the  country  whose  history  lies  before  us.  It  is  not  exten- 
sive, this  England — 350  mil.-  from  north  to  south,  ami  no- 
where more  than  370  from  ea8t  to  west.  Its  area.  Bteited 
roundly,  is  50,000  mile-.  It  will  make  matters  clearer  to  survej 
it-  physical  features,  note  where  its  mountains  rise,  where  its 
it  plain-  aii-  spread  out,  ami  whence  ami  whither  its 
river- run.     The  backbone  of  England  is  the  Pennine  Chain, 

a   line  of  mountains   and   high   plain-,  or  m -,  extending 

southward  from  the  Scottish  borderto  the  heart  of  the  king- 
dom, where  it  ends  in  the  Peak  of  Derbyshire.     On  th< <• 


16  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

side — west — of  the  Pennine  range  is  a  knot  of  lofty  mount- 
ains, the  Cumbrian  Hills,  among  which  rise  the  summits  of 
Scal'ell  (3,162  feet),  "  the  brow  of  mighty  Helvellyn  "  (3,118 
feet),  and  Skiddaw  (3,054  feet).  In  the  folds  of  these 
mountains  are  the  lakes  Windermere,  Ulles  Water,  Derwent- 
water,  Thirl  mere,  Buttermere,  and  Coniston  Water,  which 
make  this  "  lake  district"  the  most  picturesque  region  in 
England,  and  a  favorite  haunt  of  poets.  East  of  the  Pen- 
nines  is  the  great  plain  of  York,  curving  around  the  Peak 
and  joining  the  central  plain.  A  range  of  uplands  sepa- 
rates these  plains  from  the  valley  of  the  Thames,  which 
stretches  its  fertile  length  nearly  across  the  kingdom,  and 
from  the  Severn  valley,  which  cuts  off  the  Welsh  highlands 
from  the  gentler  levels  of  the  east.  ,  Cornwall,  the  narrow 
south-western  prolongation  of  England,  is  mountainous,  like 
Wales,  but  the  greater  part  of  southern  England  is  a  rolling 
country  traversed  by  four  ranges  of  uplands  or  high  plains,  the 
Oolitic,  Chilterns,  North  Downs,  and  South  Downs.  The  first 
is  of  limestone,  the  three  latter  are  of  white  chalk,  and  ter- 
minate respectively  in  Hunstanton  Point,  the  Forelands,  and 
Beachy  Head.  These  four  ranges  converge  from  the  east 
coast  to  Dorsetshire,  the  region  between  the  Bristol  and  En- 
glish Channels.  North  of  them,  beyond  the  valleys  of  Thames 
and  Severn,  lies  the  mining  and  manufacturing  center  of  the 
world,  drawing  its  sustenance  from  the  iron,  coal,  and  lead  of 
the  Pennine  Chain,  the  avooI  from  the  northern  and  southern 
grazing  lands,  and  the  cotton  of  both  hemispheres. 

The  water  system  of  England  is  simple.  Navigable  seas 
surround  the  island,  fine  harbors  indent  its  coasts,  and  many 
rivers  traverse  its  plains  and  thread  its  valleys.  The  deep 
bays  and  prominent  headlands  give  to  England  and  Wales 
a  coast  line  1,800  miles  long.  The  eastern  shore  is  generally 
low  and  level.  The  rivers  that  enter  the  German  Ocean  are 
the  Tyne,  which  flows  through  the  northern  coal-beds,  the 
Tees,  the  Humber,  which  gathers  to  itself  a  sheaf  of  streams — 


England — thi:   Island  of   ran  English,  it 

the  Trent  and  Ouse  among  them — the  Wash,  a  shallow  bay 
receiving  the  slow  moving  waters  of  the  expanse  of  marsh-land 
known  as  the  fens  of  Lincolnshire,  and  the  Thames,  the 
main  water-coarse  of  Great  Britain.  The  south  coast  runs 
through  many  variations  of  height,  from  the  low  chalk  cliffs 
of  Dover  to  the  iron-bound  masses  of  the  Cornish  promon- 
tories. Its  rivers  are  few  and  of  no  moment,  hut  the  arms 
of  the  sea,  whioh  embrace  the  Isle  of  Wight,  provide  the 
splendid  harbors  of  Portsmouth  and  Southampton,  and  far- 
ther toward  the  west  is  Plymouth  Sound,  the  bead-quarters 
of  the  royal  fleet.  Rounding  Land's  End  and  coasting 
northward,  the  sailor  enters  the  broad  waters  of  Bristol 
ChaniH'l,  the  estuary  of  the  Severn.  North  of  Wales  the 
rivers  Deo  and  Mersey  discharge  into  the  Irish  Sea 
through  broad  mouths,  the  former  now  choked  by  "the 
sands  o' Dee,"  the  latter  the  second  sea-port  of  the  realm. 
The  Ilibble  cuts  another  deep  notch  in  Lancashire,  a  little 
Bouth  of  the  wide  Bay  of  Morecambe,  which  receives  the 
Lune  and  other  Bouthward-fiowing  waters  from  the  Cum- 
brian hills.  The  northerly  meres  and  torrents  find  their  way 
into  Sol  way  Firth  by  the  Eden  and  Derwent. 

The  climate  of  the  British  Isles  is  remarkable.  The  group 
lies  between  parallel  50°  and  60°  of  north  latitude,  as  far 
north  as  Labrador  or  Central  Russia,  yel  the  temperature  is 
mild  throughout  the  year.  If  is  their  insular  position,  and 
especially  the  proximityof  the  warm  ocean-river,  the  Gulf 
Bl  earn,  which  Bweepspasl  their  western  shores,  which  see  mis 
to  these  islands  warmth  and  evenness  of  temperature  and 
plentiful  moisture. 

Ireland  if  as  warm  as  Virginia,  and  the  air  of  the  Isli 
Wight  is  nearly  as  mild  as  the  climate  of  Prance  and  Italy. 
The  mean  temperature  of  London  is  much  higher  than  i  hal  of 
N<  w  fork.  The  Btranger  in  Greal  Britain  is  most  impn  ssi  d 
by  the  frequent  and  copious  rail  The  prevailing  winds 
blow  from  the  west,  gathering  moisture  from  the  evaporating 


18  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

waters  of  the  Atlantic.  Ireland  receives  the  first  downpour, 
and  the  fields  of  that  green  island  are  watered  by  showers 
208  days  (average)  in  the  year.  The  mountains  of  Britain — 
Scottish,  Welsh,  and  English— next  intercept  the  heavy  clouds. 
The  rain-fall  upon  their  western  slopes  is  enormous — seven 
feet  every  year  in  some  districts.  These  waters  reach  the  sea 
in  short  and  rapid  torrents.  The  eastern  counties  have  but  a 
moderate  amount  of  rain,  but  nowhere  is  the  land  too  dry  for 
pasturage,  and  in  general  the  humid  atmosphere  nourishes 
the  lawns,  fields,  and  hedge-rows,  which  give  luxuriant  color 
to  the  English  landscape.  Coupled  with  warmth  of  climate, 
this  moisture  makes  the  soil  productive  of  rich  crops  of 
cereals.  Wheat  thrives  almost  every-where,  and  barley  and 
oats  in  the  nofth.  Ireland's  chief  crop  is  potatoes,  though 
flax  is  much  cultivated.  Grazing  is  successful  in  all  parts 
of  the  United  Kingdom,  and  the  best  breeds  of  horned  cat- 
tle and  sheep  bear  the  names  of  the  English  counties  and 
islands  where  they  were  bred. 

Moor  and  fell,  lake,  stream,  and  chalk  cliff  remain  much  as 
they  were  when  the  first  Greek  or  Roman  discoverer  set  foot 
in  Britain,  but  among  these  the  modern  traveler  or  student 
finds  new  names  and  places  that  mark  the  island  as  the  hab- 
itation of  man.  England  has  a  political  geography  no  less 
interesting  than  the  physical  features  which  we  have  enu- 
merated, and  at  the  outset  we  shall  do  well  to  impress  upon 
our  minds  its  leading  facts — the  counties  and  towns  of  En- 
gland, their  names,  positions,  and  characteristics. 

With  the  help  of  a  map  we  shall  again  commence  at  Ber- 
wick, on  the  river  Tweed — the  English  Rubicon — and,  mov- 
ing southward,  note  them  in  succession. 

The  first  of  the  forty  English  shires,  or  counties,  is  North- 
umberland, the  old  border-land  where  English  Percy  and 
Scottish  Douglas  met  in  frequent  foray.  The  Tweed  on  the 
north  and  the  Tyne  on  the  south  form  outlets  for  the  rich 
coal-measures  which  contribute  to  the  prosperity  of  North 


I-'.N-.i  LND— THB    [SULND    OF    ill  l :    ENGLISH.  19 

Shields  and  Newcastle-on-Tyne,  the  latter  city  ranking  after 
London  and  Liverpool  in  trade.      Durham,  which  liea  next, 

won  the  Tyne  and  Tees,  surpasses  its  northern  neighbor 
in  the  variety  of  its  industries.  Its  coal-beds  are  extensive. 
\.  :ir  them  is  iron  ore.  And  its  river  valleys  arc  checkered 
with  fertile  farms.  Durham',  the  shire-town  on  the  Wear, 
is  a  quiel  little  city  with  a  famous  cathedral  church.  Sun- 
derland and  South  Shields  are  the  other  cities,  fork,  the 
greatesl  of  the  Bhires,  occupies  the  plain  between  the  Tees 
and  the  Humber,  drained  by  the  dozen  streams  which  swell 
the  latin-  river'  through  the  channel  of  the  Ouse.  In  the 
center  of  this  rich  farming  district  is  the  city  of  York,  one 
of  the  oldesl  of  English  towns,  and  prominent  in  the  chroni- 

-  of  war  and  peace,  Church  and  State.  It  has  a  splendid 
cathedral,  the  seat  of  one  of  the  two  Anglican  archbishops. 

Moors   and    uplands    rich  in    metals  and  COal  skill   this  rivef- 

basin,  ami  at^the  Bouth-western  angle  among  the  Pennine 
foot-hills  populous  manufacturing  cities  have  Bprung  up 
around  the  woolen-mills  of  Leeds,  Bradford,  Halifax,  Hud- 
dersfield,  and  the  edge-tool  shops  of  Sheffield.  Hull,  on  the 
Bomber,  is  the  port  for  much  of  the  export  trade  in  the  prod- 
ucts of  these  factories.  For  convenience  the  greal  count) 
i-  divided,  i:-  three  districts  the  North,  Mast,  and  Wesl 
R  diifgs — all  meeting  in  the  county  town  of  York.  Again 
two  riven  -rather,  broad  inlets— the  Humber  and  the 
Wash,  inclose  ,\  county.  This  time  it  is  Lincoln.  Lincoln- 
shire differs  materially  from  the  shir,  ,,|y  noticed,  hav- 
ing no  Bhare  in  the  mineral  treasures  of  tin'  Pennine  Chain. 

fa  northern  districts,  know  n  a-  the  Wolds,  are  upland  past- 
ures, hut    where  they  fall  to  the  level    of  the   Wash  land  and 

water  mingle  in  the  vasl  marshes  called  '"the  fen  country." 

These  fenlands  have  been  diked  ami  drained,   ami  are  now 

fertile  grass-lands,  while  countless  flocks  of  ducks  ami  •■• 
are  bred  in  their  sluggish  waters.     The  capital  is  Lincoln,  a 

little  old  cathedral  city,  and  the  chief  porl    is  Boston  -St. 


20  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

Botolph's  town — both  on  the  river  Witham,  and  bearing 
names  dear  to  Americans.  West  of  Lincolnshire  the  river 
Trent  drains  an  inland  region  comprising  the  four  Midland 
counties — Nottingham,  Derby,  Stafford,  and  Leicester.  All 
except  the  last  named  border  the  Pennine  Chain  and  delve 
for  its  minerals.  In  Nottinghamshire  was  Sherwood  Forest, 
the  haunt  of  Robin  Hood  and  his  greenwood  rangers.  Not- 
tingbam  is  its  busy  capital,  and  it  has  no  other  large  city, 
the  farming  people  being  dispersed  among  many  market- 
towns  and  villages.  Northern  Derbyshire  contains  the  rugged 
region  of  the  Peak  (1,981  feet  high),  and  its  eastern  section 
is  rich  in  coal  and  iron.  Derby  is  the  thriving  county  seat. 
Rich  Staffordshire  lies  next,  o^  the  south-west.  Coal  in  the 
north,  and  coal  again  in  the  south,  alternating  with  rich  beds 
of  clay,  have  made  the  Staffordshire  potteries  the  largest  in 
England.  Stafford,  a  "  shoe-town,"  is  the  county  seat,  but 
Stoke-on-Trent  is  the"center  of  the  earthenware  manufacture. 
In  the  south  are  Wolverhampton,  with  extensive  iron-furnaces, 
Burton-on-Trent,  a  brewer's  city,  and  peaceful  old  Lichfield, 
with  a  much-admired  cathedral.  The  fourth  and  least  of  the 
midland  shires  is  Leicester.  Its  pleasant  farms  lie  wholly 
south  of  the  Trent,  and  are  watered  by  the  river  Soar.  Leices- 
ter, where  court  is  held  and  wool  is  spun  and  woven,  is  the 
only  large  city  among  a  score  of  country  towns. 

With  Lincoln,  noticed  above,  five  other  shires — Rutland, 
Northampton,  Huntingdon,  Bedford,  and  Cambridge — are 
sometimes  classed  as  counties  of  the  Wash  or  the  East  Mid- 
lands. Rutland  is  the  smallest  shire  in  England  ;  the  court- 
house is  at  Oakham.  The  water-shed  of  central  England  ex- 
tends through  long  and  narrow  Northamptonshire;  numerous 
herds  graze  upon  these  uplands,  and  rivers  springing  here  find 
their  diverse  ways  to  the  Wash,  the  Severn,  and  the  Thames. 
Northampton,  the  capital,  is  the  center^of  the  shoe-trade,  but 
Peterborough,  with  its  towering  church,  is  far  more  inter- 
esting.    About    the  farms  of  level  Huntingdon  lingers  the 


England— the  Island  of  che  English.  :21 

memory  of  one  Oliver  Cromwell,  the  sturdiesl  i*at ri« >t  thai 

r  tilled  an  English  field;  and  Bedford,  the  county  - 
of  the  adjoining  Bedfordshire,  is  better  know  a  f< »r  ii s  dream- 
ins  tinker,  John  Bunyan,  than  For  the  straw  hats  and  bon- 
nets  plaited  there  and  al  Dunstable.  The  last  of  these  six 
counties  bears  the  renowned  name  of  Cambridge,  its 
county  Beat,  where  in  simpler  times  the  little  river  Cam  was 
bridged, and  where  one  of  the  two  English  universities  has 
been  for  six  centuries  a  renter  of  learning.     The  northern 

ion  of  the  Bhire  is  fen-land,  like  southern  Lincoln,  and 
fn.iu  the  marshes  rises  the  Isle  of  Ely,  a  religious  center  from 
the  earliesl  English  times.  Between  Cambridge  and  the 
east  coast  lie  the  two  Easl  Anglian  counties,  Norfolk  and 
Suffolk,  the  " north-folk "  and  "south-folk"  of  the  Angles, 
who  firsl  conquered  this  district.  Farms  in  the  interior,  and 
fisheries  on  the  sea-board,  give  employment  to  the  inhabitants. 
Norwich  is  the  capital,  and  Yarmouth — famed  for  its  her- 
rings— the  Bea-port  of  the  northern  Bhire.  [pswich  is  both 
capital  and  port  of  Suffolk.  In  the  interior  is  the  historic 
Bury  St.  Edmunds. 

The  Thame-  (length,  215  miles)  is  the  chief  English  river, 
and  eighl  counties  lie  within  the  region  which  it  drains. 
]■'.--■  .  Middlesex,  Hertford,  Buckingham,  and  Oxford  lie  on 
it-  left  bank,  opposed  on  the  other  shore  by  Berkshire,  Sur- 

,  and  Kent.  Essex  gol  its  name  from  its  East-Saxon 
conquerors.     Where  once  were  the  royal  hunting  preserves 

Epping  ami  I  Iainault  i-  now  a  land  of  farms  and  rural  pros- 
perity without  large  cities.  At  Shoeburyness,  guarding  the 
Thames-mouth,  m  the  artillerv-school  of  the  British  army. 
The  .Middle  Saxons  gave  their  name  to  Middlesex,  Bmallesl 
hut    one    and    mosl    populous   of    all   the  English    shire-.      It- 

capital    i-  Brentford.     Westward,  by  a  heath  once  infested 
by  Sir  John  Palstaff  and  fiercer  cut-purses,  is  Hounslow,  and 

a  few  mil>-  t.,  tin-   north  i-  Harrow,  the  home  of  a   famous 
public  school.      But    in    comparison  with  i  .i   city  the 


22  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

towns  of  Middlesex  sink  out  of  sight;  for  within  this  county 
lies  the  greater  portion  of  London,  the  greatest  city  that 
the  world  has  known.  The  population  of  4,000,000  souls 
gathered  here  overflows  upon  the  Surrey  side  of  the  Thames, 
and  the  docks  and  warehouses  of  its  abounding  commerce  line 
the  river  to  its  mouth.  London  is  the  *seat  of  the  English 
government,  and  the  capital  of  the  world's  trade.  Hither  run 
all  the  roads  in  England,  and  hither  tend  the  sails  from  every 
sea.  No  metropolis  of  the  ancient  world  is  to  be  compared 
with  this  modern  marvel.  Middlesex  cuts  off  Hertford  from 
direct  contact  with  the  Thames.  This  shire  has  no  great 
cities,  but  St.  Albans  is  a  town  of  note  in  early  times.  In 
Buckinghamshire  is  Eton,  noted  like  Harrow  for  its  ancient 
school.  Agriculture  is  the  prevailing  industry,  as  it  is  in  Ox- 
fordshire, which  adjoins  the  former  on  the  west.  Oxford, 
the  county  seat,  has  also  a  cathedral  and  a  university  seven 
centuries  old.  In  the  north-west  are  the  Edge  Hills,  and  in  the 
center  of  the  county  is  Woodstock,  where  the  poet  Chaucer 
lived  and  wrote  Tli e  Canterbury  Tales.  Crossing  to  the 
right  bank  of  the  Thames,  and  following  it  to  the  sea,  we 
pass  through  Berkshire,  another  land  of  farmers,  having  the 
royal  residence  of  Windsor  Castle  in  its  north-eastern  angle. 
The  Hampshire  Downs,  a  range  of  chalk  hills  which  crosses 
Berkshire,  also  traverse  the  adjacent  county  of  Surrey.  Here 
the  influence  of  London  has  turned  the  farming  hamlets  into 
thrifty  suburban  towns,  and  two  populous  divisions  of 
the  metropolis,  Lambeth  and  Sonthwark,  lie  wholly  on  the 
Surrey  side.  Kent,  which  lies  between  Surrey  and  the  Straits 
of  Dover,  is  one  of  the  most  interesting  of  this  long  list  of 
counties.  On  this  coast  are  Dover  and  Folkestone,  whence 
steam-boats  cross  to  Calais  and  Boulogne  in  France.  Rams- 
gate  and  Margate,  on  the  Isle  of  Thanet,  are  the  popular  sea- 
shore resorts  of  the  London  crowds.  Canterbury  is  the  site 
of  a  grand  cathedral,  the  seat  of  the  first  Anglican  arch- 
bishop, and  perhaps  the  most  venerated  spot  in  the  kingdom. 


K\..i.\m> — the  Island  oi    mi    English.  28 

Tunbridge  Wells,  on  the  Bouthern  border,  was  the  fashionable 
watering-place  two  hundred  years  ago;  at  Rochester  is  an 
ancient  cathedral,  and  Dear  l>y  at  Chatham  is  the  arsenal  of 
the  royal  navy.  Deptford,  Greenwich,  JV^oolwich,  and 
Gravesend,  which  elbow  each  other  for  a  water-front  Upon 
tin.-  Thames,  present  mile  upon  mile  of  docks,  crowded  with 
the  shipping  of  the  globe.  Marking  the  mouth  of  the 
Thames  is  the  North  Foreland  light. 

Our  traveling  student  of  political  geography  has  now  re- 
turned from  his  trip  among  the  Thames  counties  and  may 
follow  the  Channel  coast  into  Sussex,  another  historical 
name  derived  from  the  South  Saxons.  The  surface  of  this 
shire  i>  broken  by  the  South  Down-,  a  range  of  crumbling 
chalk  hills  ending  at  the  Channel  shore  in  Beachy  Head. 
Between  these -hills  and  the  North  Downs  is  the  Weald,  a 
plain  of  clay  and  sand,  which  was  until  recently  a  tangled 
wilderness.  Sussex  is  nol  populous,  but  among  its  coast 
towns  are  Hastings,  where  William  the  Conqueror  fought,  and 
Brighton,  the  most  popular  beach  in  England.  Chichester, 
now  decayed,  has  the  court-house  and  bishop's  church.  On 
the  plain  of  Senlac  William  won  his  decisive  victory  over 
Harold,  and  near  by  is  the  ruined  abbey  of  Battle — the  mon- 
ument of  the  conquest.  The  Hampshire  Downs,  of  which 
the  North  and  Soutb  Downs  are  the  eastern  branches,  extend 
across  northern  Hampshire,  rising  in  places  to  the  heighl  of 
about  1,000  feet.  Between  their  wall  and  the  Channel  is  a 
gently  undulating  and  fertile  region,  of  which  the  ancient 
royal  and  cathedral  cit)  of  Winchester  is  the  center.  Two 
harbors,  Portsmouth  and  Southampton,  indent  the  southern 
coast,  the  former  being  a  naval  post,  the  latter  the  entry 
port  of  an  active  commerce  with  the  Mediterranean. 
B  ithampton  Water,  with  it-  arms,  the  Solent  and  Spithead, 
divide  the  Ule  of  Wighl  from  the  Hampshire  main-land. 
The  climate  of  the  island  is  charmingly  mild,  and  it-  scenery 
v . ■!•;.    beautiful.      W. -;   of  Southampton   Water  is  a  wide 


24  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

tract  of  woodland  called  the  New  Forest.  The  conquer- 
ing Normans  laid  this  country  waste  to  form  a  game  pre- 
serve, and  it  was  here  that  "the  red  king"  lost  his  life. 
Wiltshire,  though  wholly  inland,  is  linked  with  this  southern 
range  of  counties  by  its  rivers,  which  flow  into  the  English 
Channel,  though  parts  of  it  are  drained  by  affluents  of  the 
Thames  and  Severn.  Much  of  its  surface  is  high  and  barren 
— Salisbury  Plain  and  Marlborough  Downs.  Salisbury  is 
the  capital  and  cathedral  city,  Wilton  has  given  its  name  to 
a  kind  of  carpets,  Stonehenge  is  a  circle  of  massive  stones 
marking,  perhaps,  the  center  of  the  religious  exercises  of  the 
Druids.  Dorset  lies  between  Wilts  and  the  Channel.  Much 
of  its  surface  is  high,  and  clay  for  the  Stafford  potteries  is 
almost  its  only  mineral  product. 

Bristol  Channel,  a  wedge  driven  far  into  Britain,  splits  off 
a  slender  sliver  of  land,  which  is  divided  between  the  three 
counties  of  Somerset,  Devon,  and  Cornwall.  Somersetshire 
borders  the  Bristol  Channel,  and  is  cut  in  two  by  the  river 
Parret.  East  of  this  river  are  low  hills  and  fertile  valleys. 
There  are  cathedrals  at  Bath  and  Wells,  and  Glastonbury 
was  once  the  site  of  the  most  extensive  monastery  in  the 
island.  West  of  the  river,  however,  there  are  few  cities ; 
masses  of  rocky  mountains  take  the  place  of  the  ridges  of 
chalk  and  lime  which  cross  the  eastern  counties,  and  few 
villages  are  found  in  their  isolated  glens.  The  rocks  of 
Devonshire  are  of  the  same  character,  but  the  mountains  rise 
higher,  and  are  rich  in  metals.  Exmoor  is  the  name  given 
to  the  highlands  of  North  Devon,  and  Dartmoor  to  the  more 
extensive  southern  plateau.  Yes  Tor,  the  Dartmoor  summit, 
exceeds  2,000  feet  in  height.  Mines  of  lead,  iron,  tin,  cop- 
per, and  quarries  of  valuable  building  stone  enrich  South 
Devonshire,  and  have  built  busy  cities  at  the  mouths  of  the 
rivers:  Plymouth,  Devonport,  and  Dartmouth.  In  the  plain 
between  these  two  strips  of  moorland  are  bred  the  herds  of 
Devon  cattle,  and  here  are  the  towns  of  Exeter,   another 


England — the  Island  of  the  English.  -25 

cathedral  city,  and  Honiton,  where  lace  is  made.  The  point 
of  this  south-western  sliver  of  Britain  is  the  county  of  Corn- 
wall, which  is  again  split  at  its  western  tip  into  the  two 
headlands — Land's  End  and  Lizard  Point.  Flinty  rocks  and 
scanty  soil  form  the  forbidding  surface  of  the  shire,  but  the 
hard  rocks  of  the  utmost  west  are  richly  veined  with  lead, 
silver,  copper,  and  exhaustless  stores  of  tin.  The  chief  Corn- 
ish towns  are  Truro,  Falmouth,  and  Penzance. 

Turning  northward  from  the  mineral-bearing  rocks  of 
Devon  and  Cornwall,  we  find  a  group  of  six  West  Midland 
counties  lying  in  the  valley  of  the  Severn,  between  Wales  and 
the  already  mentioned  Midland  shires.  They  are  Glouces- 
ter, Worcester,  Warwick,  Monmouth,  Hereford,  and  Salop, 
or  Shropshire.  The  iir>t  named  is  an  agricultural  region, 
notable  for  the  wool  of  its  Cotswold  flocks,  and  for  the  com- 
merce and  manufactures  of  its  city  of  Bristol,  which  trades 
extensively  with  Ireland  and  the  West  Indies.  Tracing  the 
course  of  the  Severn  northward,  one  enters  Worcestershire,  a 
land  of  fertile  valleys,  rich  in  farms  and  orchards.  Worces- 
ter, its  capital,  has  famous  porcelain  works,  carpets  are 
woven  at  Kidderminster,  and  iron  and  glass  are  manufactured 
in  a  busy  district  at  the  north.  The  river  Avon,  the 
main  tributary  of  the  Severn,  flows  midway  through  lovely 
Warwickshire.  This  U  Shakespeare's  county,  for  he  was 
born  at  Stratford-on-Avon.  Rugby,  dear  to  many  genera- 
tions of  English  school-boys,  is  in  the  Avon  valley.  So  is 
Coventry,  where  the  chaste  Godiva  rode  at  noonday,  and 
K  ailworth  Castle,  now  ruined,  where  the  Earl  of  Leicester 
ted  the  august  Elizabeth.  Beyond  the  charming  valley 
is  the  populous  manufacturing  city  of  Birmingham,  ranking 
fourth  in  England.  Across  the  Severn,  from  Gloucester,  is 
Monmouthshire,  taken  from  Wales  by  the  eighth  King  Henry. 

The    Welsh    mountain     ^iurs    which    enter  the  county  from 

the  west  yield  coal  and  iron,  and  the  basin  of  the  river 
dak  ii  fertile.     The  Wye,  which  here  enters  the  Severn,  lias 


26  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

come  down  through  the  orchards  and  hop-gardens  of  Here- 
fordshire. The  sixth  and  largest  of  the  West  Midland  coun- 
ties is  Shropshire,  which  the  Severn  cuts  into  halves,  the  north- 
ern section  low,  with  fat  pastures,  the  southern  mountainous 
and  sparsely  peopled.  Its  towns  are  small  and  unimportant. 
The  four  remaining  counties  of  England — Chester,  Lan- 
caster, Westmoreland,  and  Cumberland — are  washed  by  the 
Irish  Sea  and  run  back  to  the  Pennine  Chain.  The  double 
advantage  of  mineral  wealth  and  easy  water  communication 
has  raised  them  in  wealth  and  population.  Cheshire  has  the 
Mersey,  with  the  sea-port  of  Birkenhead  on  its  northern,  and 
the  sandy  Dee,  with  Roman-walled  Chester,  on  its  southern, 
boundary.  Midway  flows  the  river  Weaver,  through  a  valley 
whose  salt  springs  were  utilized  before  the  invasion  of 
Coesar.  Copper  and  lead  mines,  coal-fields  and  stone-quar- 
ries, are  worked  in  the  eastern  districts,  which  thus  gain 
importance  as  a  manufacturing  center.  But  the  county  of 
Lancaster,  or  Lancashire,  stands  easily  first  in  manufactures. 
Lancaster  is  a  long  and  narrow  county,  comprising  the  iso- 
lated lakes  and  mountains  of  Furness,  the  thinly  settled 
pasture-lands  of  North  Lancashire,  and,  between  the  Ribble 
and  Mersey,  South  Lancashire,  a  swarming  hive  of  industry. 
The  coal-fields  of  the  Lancashire  moor-lands  and  the  use  of 
steam-power  have  changed  this  desolate  country  into  a  popu- 
lous and  wealthy  section  until,  as  a  recent  writer  says,  "  the 
whole  county  has  now  the  appearance  of  one  unbroken  city 
of  mills  and  factories,  all  busied  in  the  same  trade,  the  weav- 
ing, dyeing,  and  printing  of  cotton."  Bolton,  Oldham,  Roch- 
dale, and  Manchester  are  cities  of  spindles  and  looms,  and 
Liverpool,  on  the  Mersey,  the  second  city  of  England,  and 
second  sea-port  of  the  world,  is  the  outlet  and  inlet  for  the 
materials  and  products  of  this  enormous  industry.  West- 
moreland, which  only  comes  down  to  the  sea  at  the  head  of 
Morecambe  Bay,  is  the  most  mountainous  and  barren,  and, 
consequently,  the  least  populous,  of  the  English   counties. 


England — tuk   Island  of    hie  English.  27 

Yet  the  poeta  have  lived  there  and  written  of  the  glories  of 
Helvellvn  and  the  beauties  of  Windermere,  and  this  lake 
country  has  a  charm  for  the  artist  and  Bight-seer.  Cumber- 
land,  wedged  in  between  Westmoreland,  Scotland,  and  Sol- 
way  Firth,  completes  the  tale  of  forty  shires.  It  includes 
the  northern  lakes  and  mountains,  and  has  mines  of  coal  and 
Lead.  Carlisle,  one  of  the  oldest  towns  in  Britain,  is  its 
capital. 

Thus  we  have  made  the  circuit  of  England  as  it  is  to-day. 
We  musl  now  turn  from  this  busy  scene  of  crowded  cities, 
of  bustling  harbors,  great  factories,  and  deep  mines.  The 
beginnings  of  English  history  go  back  to  a  time  when  no 
[Cnglishman  dwelt  in  Britain  and  a  halt-civilized  Celtic  race 
tilled  the  plains  and  hunted  in  forests  of  the  island. 


28  An  Outline  History  of  England. 


CHAPTER   II. 

THE  EARLY  BRITONS  AND  ROMAN  BRITAIN.    55  B.  C.-410  A.  D. 

The  people  who  call  themselves  English  make  no  pretense 
of  being  the  original  proprietors  of  their  England.  The  first 
ship-load  of  their  pagan  ancestors  who  crossed  from  the 
Scandinavian  and  German  coasts  of  Europe  and  disembarked 
upon  the  eastern  and  southern  shores  of  the  island,  in  the 
fifth  century  after  Christ,  found  the  country  already  in  pos- 
session of  a  partially  civilized  and  Christianized  Celtic  race — 
the  Britons.  But  it  is  probable  that  even  these  were  preced- 
ed by  another  people,  for  the  Roman  pioneers,  who  reached 
Britain  five  centuries  before  the  first  Englishman  set  foot  there, 
describe  besides  the  Celts  a  swart,  curly-headed  people  dwell- 
ing in  the  interior.  This  second  nation,  sometimes  called  Silu- 
rian, was  perhaps  related  to  the  Iberians  of  early  Spain,  as  the 
Celtic  Britons  were  surely  akin  to  the  Celtic  Gauls  of  France. 

Of  the  Silurians  we  merely  know  that  they  existed  in  the 
island  when  it  was  first  visited  by  observing  Europeans.  Of 
the  Celts  there  is  something  further  to  remark.  It  is  now 
generally  believed  that  the  table-land  of  Central  Asia  was  the 
mother-land  of  many  races  which  in  successive  pulse-beats 
of  population  started  forth  to  people  the  lands  which  lay  to 
the  west  and  south.  This  family  of  nations  is  variously 
named  Aryan,  Indo-European,  and  Indo-Germanic.  To  it 
belong  most  of  the  tribes  which  peopled  Europe  at  the  dawn 
of  history,  including  the  Hellenes,  of  the  Greek  countries; 
the  Italians,  from  whom  sprang  the  Romans,  and  the  multi- 
tudinous races  of  noi'thern  Europe — the  "  barbarians,"  who 
first  called  forth  the  sneers,  and  afterward  the  fears,  of 
Greece  and  Rome. 


The  Early  Buttons  am>  Roman  Britain.  2V 

From  evidenoea  of  location  and  language  it  has  been  de- 
termined that  the  Celts  were  among  the  first  Aryan  families 
in  Europe.  They  settled  in  Helvetia  (Switzerland)  and 
Gaul  (France)  in  prehistoric  times.  A  grain  of  credibility 
in  the  legendary  history  of  Rome  i-  that  the  hordes  of 
Brennus,  a  Celtic  chieftain,  ravaged  Italy  and  Backed  Rome  in 
the  time  of  the  kings  (890  B.  ('.).  The  unceasing  westward 
movement  of  the  Aryans,  the  later  nations  pressing  the  early- 
comers  down  into  the  peninsulas  of  the  west,  had  already 
driven  the  non-Celtic  race,  which  we  shall  call  Silurian,  across 
the  English  Channel,  leaving  a  remnant  hidden  away  among 
the  Spanish  mountains,  who  seem  to  survive  to-day  in  the 
curious  Basques  of  the  Pyrenees,  A  portion  of  the  Celts, 
obeying  the  same  impulse,  followed  on  the  heels  of  the 
fugitives.  All  these  movements  probably  took  place  very 
slowly,  and  no  record  of  them  has  ever  been  found.  The 
('••Its  of  the  British  Islands  are  of  two  branches,  the  earlier 
Gaels — -till  represented  by  the  Irish  and  the  Scottish  High- 
landers— and  the  Gyinri,  who  originally  held  most  of  southern 
Britain,  but  whom  we  shall  Bee  retiring  before  the  German 
invaders,  and  finding  refuge  in  the  mountains  of  Corn- 
wall and  Wales,  where  the  language  and  national  type  is 
still  to  be  found. 

The  history  of  early  Britain,  and,  in  truth,  of  early  En- 
gland, is  even  more  difficult  to  trace  with  certainty  than  that 
of  Greece   or  Rome;    for   tin-    people   of   olassic   antiquity 
•  >ok  on  civiliz  at  ion,  and  preserved  written  chronicles  of 
ats  in  their  national  life.     Britain,  remote  from  the  intel- 
lectual lights,   peopled   by  long-untutored  barbarians,   and 
twice  or  thrice  submerged  in  wars  of  foreign  conquesl   by 
ruder  races,   furnishes   the   most    meager   material    for 

tilling   in    the    outline    of    her    BtOry.      Legends    there   are   ill 

abundance  connecting  the  islanders  with  the  tales  of  JSneas 
and  the  Trojan  founder,  of  Rome,  bul  they  are  too  fanciful 
to  olaim  :i  place  in  sober  history,  and  we  musl   pass  them  b\ 


30  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

to  learn  what  we  may  of  the  actual  condition  and  events  in 
the  island  previous  to  the  advent  of  the  English  in  the  year 
449  A.  D. 

Some  have  fancied  that  the  fearless  mariners  of  the  Phe- 
nician  cities — Tyre  and  Sidon,  at  the  eastern  end  of  the  Med- 
iterranean Sea — groped  their  way  between  the  Pillars  of  Her- 
cules, as  they  called  the  Strait  of  Gibraltar,  and  coasted 
northward  to  the  German  Ocean  a  thousand  years  before 
the  birth  of  Christ,  in  which  case  the  shores  of  Britain  would 
certainly  have  tempted  them  to  land,  and  its  ores  would  have 
furnished  goodly  lading  for  their  little  vessels.  This  mineral 
wealth  was  early  known,  for  Herodotus,  "  the  Father  of 
History,"  writing  in  Greek,  about  450  B.  C,  speaks  of  the 
"Tin  Islands,"  making  unquestioned  allusion  to  the  tin  lodes 
of  Cornwall,  still  the  richest  in  the  world.  One  hundred 
years  later  the  Greek  writer  Aristotle  speaks  of  two  great 
islands,  lying  in  the  ocean,  inhabited  by  British  and  called 
Albion  and  Ierne,  names  still  clinging  to  the  British  Isles, 
though  the  second  word  is  now  spelled  Hibernia. 

A  traveler,  Pytheas,  from  Massilia  (Marseilles),  in  Gaul,  vis- 
ited Britain  in  the  fourth  century  B.  C.  and  wrote  of  its  wide 
stretches  of  marsh  and  its  ranging  forests.  He  stated  also 
that  sheep  and  cattle — ancestors  of  the  Cotswolds,  South 
Downs,  and  Devons  of  a  later  day — grazed  in  the  oak  open- 
ings and  on  the  upland  pastures.  Wheat  he  found  growing 
near  the  coast,  and  he  noticed  also  that  barns  must  be  built 
for  storing  the  crop,  the  frequent  rains  forbidding  the  more 
careless  husbandry  of  Gaul  and  sunny  Sicily. 

But  these  trifling:  references  in  Greek  literature  do  not 
bring  us  far  toward  the  knowledge  which  we  seek.  The  un- 
equaled  Roman,  Julius  Caesar,  is  our  first  and  almost  sole  au- 
thority upon  the  Britons  of  his  time.  In  the  year  58  B.  C, 
in  quest  of  the  military  prestige  which  his  ambition  demand- 
ed, he  entered  upon  a  five-years'  term  of  governorship  in 
Gaul — the  modern  France,     He  found  the  country  inhabited 


Tin:    Kaui.y    BbTTONS   am>    Ko.man    Hkiiain.  31 

by  tribes  of  Celts,  Bimple,  rude,  but  in  a  way  warlike,  brave, 
and  chivalrous.  These  tribes  he  reduced  to  subjection  t<> 
R  ime  in  a  series  of  brilliant  campaigns,  the  records  of  which 
In.'  kept  with  his  own  hand,  and  soon  published  in  his 
A  4ea  on  tic  W<ir  in  (i<t>d.  To  these  hooks  we  turn  and  find 
rich  information.  As  CsB&ar'a  conquests  progressed  among 
the  tribes  of  western  Gaul,  his  efforts  were  hampered  by  the 
BUCOOrs  which  his  enemies  received  from  the  Britons,  a  kin- 
dred people,  who  lived  on  a  great  island,  distant  but  a  few 
leagues  from  the  main.  Harassed  by  their  interference,  and 
ambitious  of  new  laurels,  the  Roman  gathered  a  hundred 
little  vessels  and  two  legions  of  men,  near  (.'ape  (mimic/.,  in 
France,  for  the  invasion  of  Britain.  A  reconnoitering  galley 
returned  with  small  information,  and  chiefs  of  several  island 
tribes  came  professing  submission.  Setting  sail  before  day- 
break, on  August  27,  55  B.  ('.,  Caesar  sighted  the  white 
cliffs  near  Dover  early  in  the  forenoon.  The  watchers  on  the 
height-  gave  the  alarm,  and  late  in  the  afternoon,  when  the 
Romans  attempted  a  landing,  the  shore  (near  Deal,  in  mod- 
ern Kent )  was  lined  with  fiercelv  veiling  Britons,  horrible 
with  war-paint,  and  driving  their  heavy  war-chariots  up  and 
down  the  beach.  The  Bhips  had  to  anchor  far  down  the  sand, 
and  the  legionaries,  cumbered  with  armor,  must  wade  ashore 
through  tumbling  breakers,  in  t  he  face  of  arrows  and  javelins. 
Once  landed,  their  victory  was  easy,  and  in  obedience  to 
I  jar's  iron  discipline  they  fortified  a  camp  and  rested  from 
battle  and  labor.  In  a  few  days  the  neighboring  British 
tribes  Bued  for  peace  and  Bent  in  hostages,  but,  the  Roman 
•  being  damaged  by  Btorms,  the  Britons  plucked  up  cour- 
and  made  a  Budden  attack  upon  n  Roman  foraging  party. 

which  was  only  saved  by  the  promptness  of  the  < imanding 

general.     A  f>w  days  more  of  bad  weather  convinced  CaBsar 
that  the  autumn  gales  were  approaching.     He  won  another  in- 
decisive battle  over  his  besiegers,  and  then  ingloriouslj  Bailed 
iy  in  oil  racked  vessels,  lias  in'  Becured  little  boot\  and 


32  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

no  conquest  to  show  for  his  three-weeks'  campaign   among 
the  men  of  Kent. 

This  did  not  satisfy  him.  Early  in  the  following  summer 
Cresar  collected  an  armament  of  800  small  vessels,  with  30,000 
foot  and  2,000  horse,  near  Boulogne,  on  the  east  side  of  Dover 
Strait,  and  on  July  20,  54  B.  C,  again  turned  his  j>row  to- 
ward Britain.  This  time  the  landing  was  unopposed,  and  the 
army,  hastily  disembarking  at  Deal,  marched  a  few  leagues 
inland  and  took  by  storm  the  strong  palisade  and  earth- 
works to  which  the  Britons  had  retreated.  It  was  two  weeks 
before  the  Romans  could  follow  up  their  advantages,  and 
meanwhile  the  painted  Britons  were  crowding  into  Kent  to 
expel  the  intruder.  Tribal  feuds  were  laid  aside  in  the  face 
of  the  common  peril,  and  one  Cassivelaunus — so  Coesar  spelled 
the  Celtic  name  Caswallon — was  made  leader  of  the  horde. 
With  the  courage  of  numbers  and  a  righteous  cause  the 
Celts  engaged  the  legions  in  repeated  combats,  hurling  their 
chariots  through  the  Roman  lines,  the  horsemen  leaping  to 
the  ground  and  engaging  the  infantry  hand  to  hand.  But 
their  successes  were  few  and  temporary.  The  veterans  of 
five  campaigns  against  the  Gauls  were  not  to  be  stampeded 
by  the  rudely  armed  and  undisciplined  islanders,  and  it  was 
not  long  before  the  Britons,  checked'  and  disheartened,  fell 
away  from  their  chief  and  sought  their  own  safety,  tribe  by 
tribe,  in  submission.  Csesar  followed  Caswallon  northward 
across  the  Thames  and  took  his  stronghold.  In  early  au- 
tumn the  campaign  was  closed.  The  Romans  withdrew  across 
the  channel,  leaving  no  garrison,  but  taking  many  noble 
youths  as  hostages  to  secure  peace  and  the  payment  of  trib- 
ute. How  regularly  the  tribute  money  was  paid  no  records 
tell.  Other  events  turned  Cresar's  face  eastward,  and  he 
never  revisited  the  island. 

This  is  what  Coesar  said  of  the  inhabitants  :  "  The  interior 
of  Britain  is  inhabited  by  a  race  said  to  be  aboriginal  ;  the 
coast  regions  by  invaders  from  Belgium,  whom  war  or  foray 


The  Early   Britons  and  Roman   Britain.  83 

has  brought  thither,  and  who  have  afterward  settled  in  the 
country.  There  is  a  large  population,  the  buildings  being 
numerous  and  closely  resembling  those  of  GauL  Cattle  form 
their  chief  possession.  For  money  they  use  copper  or  iron  in 
bars  of  fixed  weight  and  value.  Tin  is  found  in  the  interior, 
and  iron  sparingly  near  the  coast.  Whatever  copper  they 
use  is  imported.  They  have  the  forest  trees  of  the  main-land, 
except  the  beech  and  fir.  It  is  forbidden  by  law  to  eat  the 
flesh  of  hare,  goose,  or  chicken,  and  these  creatures  are  do- 
mesticated for  mere  amusement.  The  island  has  a  milder 
climate  than  that  of  Gaul. 

"Of  all  the  tribes  the  Kentish  men  stand  first  in  civiliza- 
tion. They  dwell  on  the  Bea-board,  and  differ  little  in  cus- 
toms from  the  neighboring  (raids.  Farther  hack  from  the 
coast  many  tribes  sow  no  grains,  subsisting  chiefly  upon 
the  milk  and  flesh  of  their  herds,  whose  skins  form  their 
clothing.  Every  Briton  Mains  himself  blue  with  the  juice  of 
the  woad,  giving  him  a  horrible  appearance  in  battle.     The 

men  Bhave  themselves,  excepting  the  head  and  the  upper  lip. 

Ten  or  a  dozen  in,  n  ha\  e  wi\  es  in  common." 
Of  their  system  of  society,  government,  and  religion  Cassar 

makes  little  note,  hut  by  likening  their  customs  to  those  of 
Gaul  he  justifies  us  in  quoting  for  the  Britons  what  he  says  of 
those  nearly  related  tribes,  lie  found,  then,  that  there  were 
practically  two  main  bodies  in  the  nation,  the  people  ami 
the  privileged  classes.     The  funnel-  were  little  better  than 

»  i\.  -  of  their  more  fortunate  masters.  The  latter  class  was 
twofold — Knightfl    an. I   J)ruids.      The   Knights  were  not   the 

courtly  cavaliers  of  later  feudal  France,  bul  were  the  families 
whose  wealth  or  prowess  in  war  gave  them  eminence.  The 
i Mist . uiis  and  beliefs  of  the  Druids  are  Btilla  mystery,  although 
much  thought  and  more  words  have  been  devoted  to  them. 
All  that  <   esar  Baj  -  of  them  if  i 

"The  Druids  have  charge  of  all  matters  of  religiou;  the} 
officiate   ;it   public   and  private  sacrifices  and  interprel  the 
2* 


34  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

omens.  The  people  hold  them  in  high  honor,  and  many- 
young  men  resort  to  them  for  education.  They  decide  al- 
most all  law-suits,  judging  and  passing  sentence  in  civil  and 
criminal  cases,  murder,  disputed  wills,  and  boundaries.  Any 
person  or  tribe  that  dissents  from  their  decision  is  declared 
an  outlaAv.  Over  them  all  is  an  Arch-Druid,  elected  by  his 
fellows  for  life.  .  .  .  The  system  is  said  to  have  originated  in 
Britain,  and  thither  go  many  Gauls  to  learn  its  principles. 
The  Druids  are  exempt  from  taxation  and  free  from  civil  and 
military  duties.  These  privileges  attract  many  novitiates, 
and  many  others  are  sent  to  them  by  parents  and  kindred. 
They  have  to  commit  to  memory  a  great  number  of  verses, 
the  full  course  of  training  sometimes  running  through  twenty 
years.  This  knowledge  of  theirs  is  a  sacred  secret,  and  it  is 
unlawful  to  write  it  down,  though  they  employ  the  Greek  al- 
phabet in  their  other  affairs.  I  think  they  have  two  reasons 
for  this  :  they  do  not  want  their  system  published  to  the  out- 
side world,  and  they  hope  thereby  to  cultivate  the  memory 
of  their  pupils.  The  chief  doctrine  of  the  Druids  is  that  the 
soul  of  man  does  not  perish,  but  has  everlasting  life,  passing 
at  the  death  of  one  body  to  renewed  existence  in  the  person 
of  another.  Thus,  they  would  incite  courage  by  removing 
the  fear  of  death.  They  have  much  lore  concerning  the 
stars  and  their  motions,  concerning  the  universe  and  the 
earth,  concerning  natural  objects,  and  about  the  power  and 
purposes  of  the  immortal  gods.  Such  things  are  the  staple 
of  their  discussions,  and  it  is  learning  of  this  kind  that  they 
hand  down  to  their  young  disciples." 

Caesar  found  them  worshiping  many  gods  whom  he  iden- 
tified with  Mercury,  Apollo,  Mars,  Jupiter,  and  Minerva,  of 
the  Roman  religion.  Horrible  sacrifices  he  describes  of  hu- 
man beings.  There  is  ample  proof  of  this  awful  feature  of 
the  Druidic  religion,  and  it  is  believed  that  the  groves  of 
sacred  oaks  were  often  scenes  of  consecrated  murder.  The 
oak,  its  leaves  and  acorns,  were    held   in   veneration,  and 


Tin:  Eaui.v   BbttONS  and  Roman   Ban wx.  35 

it  is  said  that  the  mistletoe,  which  grew  upon  its  branches, 
was  the  Bacred  symbol  of  man,  apheld  and  nourished  by  di- 
vine power.  The  island  of  Mona  (modern  Anglesey)  was  a 
favorite  school  of  the  Druids,  and  it  is  urged  by  many  that 
B  aehenge,  the  circle  of  rudely  cut  gigantic  stones,  which 
baa  Btood  on  Salisbury  Plain  from  time  immemorial,  was  the 
Druid  cathedral,  as  it  were,  of  all  Britain,  the  scat  of  the 
Arch-Druid. 

The  Britons — Druid-,  Knights,  and  Commons — were  little 
molested  for  a  hundred  years,  following  the  terror  which 
Cesar's  advent  must  have  spread  among  them.  Rome  was 
the  only  center  of  action,  and  the  ambition  of  that  same 
CsBsar  kept  Roman  hands  from  her  foreign  foes  for  three 

aerations.  The  Latin  poets  of  the  Augustan  age  make 
mention  of  the  Britons — choose  the  Briton  for  their  type  of 
the  fncinan,  unsubdued,  and  "  out  of  the  world."  The  tribute 
promised  to  CsBsar  may  have  been  extorted  now  and  then 
after  Augustus  had  gathered  up  the  reins  of  power  at  Rome, 
but  the  actual  conquest  of  Britain  was  not  begun  until  43  A.  D. 
Til.-  work  was  done  piecemeal,  and  was  many  years  in  ac- 
complishment We  need  note  only  the  main  events  in  its 
course. 

In  the  vear  13  A.  1  >.,  <  llaudius,  emperor  of  Rome,  ordered 
Aulas  Plautius,  a  general  commanding  in  Gaul,  to  invade 
B  itain  with  four  legions.  Despite  their  mutinous  spirit  at 
being  led  "out  of  the  world,"  Plautius  invaded  Britain  with 
(0,000  men.  He  found  the  country  united  in  resistance  under 
the  two  sons  of  the  late  King  Cunobelin  (the  Cymbeline  of 
Shakespeare's  pla) ).  <  me  of  these,  <  laradoc  <<  'araotacus  in  its 
R  man  form  i,  rank-  high  among  the  British  heroes  in  the  stub- 
born stru'_r'_rl<'.  The  Roman  army  Beems  to  have  penetrated 
from  the  mouth  of  the  Thames  to  the  valley  of  the  Severn, 
winning  b  and  ravaging  the  fields.     Imperial  Claudius 

«  ame  in  person  to  -hare  in  the  glories,  and  returned  to  Rome 

to   ciij'.\    a    triumph  and  to   add   the  Mirnaine    BlitannicUS  to 


36  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

his  many  titles.  Hither  also  came  Vespasian,  a  general  who 
subdued  the  coast  tribes  of  the  south,  and  marked  himself 
for  future  honors  at  Rome.  In  47  A.  D.  Ostorius  succeeded 
Plautius,  pushing  his  conquests  northward  into  York  and 
Lancashire,  and  founding  a  military  colony  at  Camulodu- 
num  (Colchester)  to  hold  the  region  for  Rome.  His  energy 
fired  the  patriotism  of  the  Britons,  and  again  Caradoc,  the 
Silurian  king,  led  them  to  battle  (50  A.  D.).  The  natives 
fought  with  desperation,  but  the  soldiers  of  Rome  were  vic- 
tors, and  the  British  leader  was  sent  a  captive  to  Rome, 
whose  arms  he  had  resisted  for  eight  years.  It  is  said  that 
the  noble  prisoner  was  much  affected  by  the  splendors  of  the 
world's  metropolis,  and  cried  out  in  bitterness,  "  Strange  that 
the  owners  of  all  this  should  envy  us  our  miserable  huts  !" 
His  life  was  spared,  and  he  ended  his  days  in  obscurity  in 
"  the  eternal  city." 

After  the  death  of  Ostorius  the  feeble  generals  made  little 
headway  in  Britain,  but  in  58  A.  D.  (Nero  then  wearing  the 
purple)  Suetonius  Paulinus,  a  genuine  Roman,  clear  of  mind 
and  strong  of  will,  took  command  in  earnest.  From  the 
Druid's  seat  at  Mona  (Anglesey)  came  the  fire-brands  that 
kej)t  the  Britons  ablaze  against  Rome,  and  it  was  the  plan 
of  Suetonius  to  quench  this  flame  by  an  invasion  of  that  island 
(61  A.  D.).  This  he  did,  landing  in  the  face  of  a  British 
army,  egged  on  by  ranks  of  chanting  Druids  and  infuriated 
women.  The  unaccustomed  array  daunted  the  soldiers 
a  moment  only;  they  routed  the  enemy,  put  priests  and 
women  to  the  sword,  and  leveled  the  oak  forests  where  the 
Druid  altars  were  ready  to  consume  the  Roman  captives  had 
the  fortune  of  battle  been  otherwise.  While  Suetonius 
struck  this  heavy  blow  in  the  west,  the  east  had  risen. 
Boadicea,  queen  of  the  Icenians  (inhabiting  Norfolk  and 
Suffolk),  had  suffered  sadly  at  the  rough  hands  of  the  Ro- 
mans. Pillaged  and  insulted,  her  two  daughters  violated,  she 
vowed  revenge.      The  tribes  of  the  east,  maddened  by  her 


The  Early  Britons  lbtd  Roman   Britain.  91 

injuries,  and  by  the  cruelty  and  greed  of  their  Roman  mas- 
ters, joined  her  in  insurrection.  Without  warning  they  fell 
upon  unfortunate  Camnlodunum  and  murdered  its  helpless 
colonists.  Suetonius  hastened  eastward  at  the  alarming  news. 
He  was  too  weak  to  save  Londinium  (London)  and  Verulami- 
(Si.  Albans),  which  were  laid  in  ruins — seventy  or  eighty 
thousand  men,  women,  and  children  fell  victims  to  the  rage 
of  the  rebels.  The  Romans  were  far  outnumbered,  and  the 
Britons  had  every  thing  to  tight  for,  but  soldier  was  pitted 
■gainst  savage,  and,  as  usual,  disciplined  valor  won.  The 
wretched  queen  soon  died,  some  say  by  Belf -administered 
poison,  some  by  disease.  Suetonius  took  Buch  dire  vengeance 
upon  the  Ieenians  and  allied  tribes  that  after  his  recall  (Gl 
A.  D.)  there  was  no  combined  resistance  to  the  Roman  con- 
quest. For  nearly  twenty  years  but  little  was  added  to  the 
history  of  Britain.  Roman  armies  were  there,  but  their 
generals  were  inactive  or  unsuccessful.  » 

The  Emperor  Vespasian,  however,  himself  a  veteran  of  the 
British  wars,  put  Cineus  Julius  Agricola  in  command  of  the 
island  (7-  A.  I).).  He  was  both  valorous  and  virtuous, and  to 
the  good  fortune  which  gave  him  the  historian  Tacitus  for  a 
son-in-law  w  8  owe  a  charming  story  of  his  noble  life.  He  add- 
ed Wales  to  the  Roman  province,  and  completed  the  subjec- 
tion of  Anglesey.  Wars  with  the  north  Britons  took  him  to 
Caledonia,  the  country  Bince  called  Scotland,  and  here,  fail- 
ing to  Bubdne  the  clansmen  of  the  Highlands,  though  beating 
them  in  bloody  battles,  he  fortified  the  northern  line  from 
Forth  to  Clyde,  re-enforcing  this  by  a  second  line  of  forts 
from  Solwaj  to  the  Tyne.  To  the  Bouth  Britons  the  rule  of 
Agricola  was  ■  period  of  peace.  They  now  began  to  adopt 
the  ways  of  life  which  the  Etonians  had  already  introduced 

among  their  kindred    in  Gaul.      Fortified  towns  sprang  up  at 

the  mouths  of  the  rivers,  trade  began  to  divide  with  agriculture 
and  gracing  the  attention  of  the   people,  the  mines   were 

worked  tO  advantage,  and  I  he  olot  king  and  domesl  ic  arrange- 


38  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

ments  of  Rome  were  gradually  adopted  by  the  children  of  the 
rough  woad-stained  warriors  who  had  confronted  Csesar  and 
followed  Boadicea  and  Caradoc  to  battle.  The  good  gov- 
ernor who  brought  about  this  change  was  called  home  (84 
A.  D.)  by  the  wicked  Domitian,  with  no  reward  but  the  con- 
sciousness of  duty  done. 

Agricola's  successors  made  no  mark  in  history.  For  nearly 
forty  years  the  southern  half  of  the  island  gradually  took  on 
the  character  of  a  Roman  j^rovince.  It  doubtless  gained  in 
wealth  in  these  times  of  peace,  and  as  its  prosperity  increased 
its  northern  frontier  was  the  more  threatened  by  the  fierce 
Caledonians.  Hadrian,  Rome's  vigorous  monarch,  the  memo- 
rials of  whose  travels  were  set  up  in  nearly  every  province, 
came  to  Britain  (120  A.  D.)  and  gave  orders  for  strengthen- 
ing Agricola's  southern  line  of  forts.  The  barrier  was  after- 
ward improved  and  many  times  repaired.  There  are  evi- 
.  dences  that  it  was  eighty  years  in  building;  and  after  fifteen 
hundred  years  of  decay,  destruction,  and  neglect  this  relic  of 
old  Rome  may  still  be  traced  throughout  its  seventy-three 
miles  of  windings  from  Wall's  End  to  Bowness.* 

*  From  the  description  given  by  A.  J.  Church  in  The  Story  of  Early  Britain 
we  condense  these  facts  concerning  Hadrian's  Wall : 

It  consisted  of  five  parts:  a  trench,  a  stone-wall,  buildings  for  troops,  a 
rampart  of  earth,  military  roads. 

1.  The  Trench.  This  skirts  the  northern  base  of  the  wall,  whatever  the 
soil,  whether  earth  or  rock.  Its  dimensions  vary.  The  average  has  beeu 
given  as  "  36  feet  wide  aud  15  feet  deep." 

2.  Tlie  Wall.  This  was  carefully  constructed  of  stone,  and  its  line  follows 
the  highest  ground,  passing  at  its  highest  point  over  a  summit  one  thousand 
feet  above  the  sea-level.  Its  width  is  eight  feet,  and  perhaps  its  original 
height  was  eighteen  feet,  though  now  it  is  much  crumbled  and  broken. 

3.  Buildings  for  Troops.  These  were  of  three  kinds :  (</)  Fortified  rectan- 
gular camps  lying  along  the  southern  side  of  the  wall  at  intervals  of  four 
miles;  (b)  mile-castles,  smaller  camps  (fifty  feet  by  sixty  feet)  at  intervals 
of  a  mile  along  the  wall ;  (c)  between  each  mile-castle  were  four  turrets, 
or  watch-towers,  now  mostly  in  ruins. 

4.  Tlie  Bampart.      South  of  the  wall  proper,  and  at  a  varying  distance 


Tin-  Early   Britons   lkd  Romah   Britain.  39 

A  generation  later  Agrioola's  northern  line  of  forts  wa 
utilised  by  the  Emperor  Antoninus  Pius  as  the  basis  for  a 
>nd  system  of  earth- works,  known  in  its  prime  as  the  Wall 
Antoninus,  but  whose  ruins  time  out  of  mind  the  Scuts  have 
called  "  Graham's  Dike."  This  wall  was  strengthened  early 
in  the  third  century  by  the  Emperor  Severus,  whom  the  in- 
cursions of  the  Caledonian  tribes  summoned  to  protect  the 
island.  He  penetrated  the  highlands  with  an  army,  and 
among  their  mists  contracted  the  disease  which  ended  his  life 
(210  A.  D.)  in  tin-  city  of  Fork,  then  called  Eboracum. 

The  history  of  the  two  following  centuries  is  confused  in 
places,  in  Other  places  blank.  Koine  itself  was  in  turmoil, 
soldier  after  another  grasping  at  the  purple  and  drag- 
ging his  rival  from  the  throne.  Ambitious  generals  seized 
upon  such  distant  provinces  as  Britain,  and  held  them  in 
comparative  independence  until  the  rise  of  some  stronger 
power  at  Koine   re-established  the  imperial  dominion. 

This  civil  strife  was  fatal  to  the  peace  of  Britain.  The 
northern  Picts,  with  the  Scot-  from  Ireland, surged  over  wall 
and  rampart,  plundering  ami  burning  in  the  lowlands,  and 
hastening  hack  to  the  glens  of  the  north  before  the  settlers 
could  rally  in  sufficient  force  to  punish  them.  In  the  fourth 
century,  as  Britain  grew  more  defenseless  these  raids  were 
redoubled.  Ambitious  generals  in  the  island  dreamed  of 
conquering  Koine,  and  sailed  away  with  the  legions  never  to 
return.  To  the  danger  from  the  Celts  of  the  north  was 
addedone  more  formidable.  The  long  coast-line  of  southern 
Britain  tempted  the  piratical   Saxons  who  dwelt  upon   the 

from  it,  is  the  rampart — a  trench  with  bordering  walla  of  stone  and  earth,  ono 
on  Ita  northern  and  two  on  its  southern  border. 

■la.    A  stole  military  waj  ited  oamp  with  camp,  fur- 

niari  port  for  men  and  si  th  of  the  rampart 

waa  a  similar  road, 

whole  w>rk  constituted  ;i  fortn  m  available  against  enemies  ou  either 
thousand  men  '.\'  i  defend  It  properly. 


40  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

shores  and  about  the  mouths  of  the  German  rivers.  They 
were  bold  seamen,  pagans  in  religion,  unbroken  by  Rome, 
and  they  swooped  down  merely  for  plunder.  The  Roman 
commanders,  with  their  scanty  forces,  were  at  their  wit's  end 
to  repel  them.  The  imperial  city,  beset  by  foes  as  cruel, 
sent  but  feeble  succors.  In  367  A.  D.  the  prowess  of 
Theodosius  had  driven  back  Pict,  Scot,  and  Saxon,  but  only 
forty-three  years  later,  when  the  British  cities  begged  for 
aid,  the  Emperor  Honorius  sent  back  the  disgraceful  mes- 
sage: "Shift  for  yourselves  henceforth;  Rome  cannot  help 
you."  After  this  the  end  of  Britain  came  quickly,  not  from 
Celt,  but  from  Saxon,  and  the  making  of  England  was 
begun. 

Of  the  internal  condition  of  the  people  very  little  is  known. 
While  the  south  was  at  peace  the  northern  walls  afforded 
some  protection  from  the  assaults  of  the  Picts  and  Scots — 
the  latter  a  fierce  tribe  which  had  come  from  Ireland  to  give 
its  name  to  north  Britain.  The  plow-man,  the  grave-digger, 
and  the  delving  builder  of  our  own  time  contribute  what- 
ever information  we  have  of  the  social  condition  of  the  British 
people.  Plowshare  and  spade  have  turned  up  bronze 
helmets  and  battle-axes  of  Roman  workmanship,  funereal 
urns  and  baser  pots  and  kettles  for  household  use,  and  many 
coins  bearing  the  effigies  of  Roman  emperors.  Remnants  of 
porticoes  and  inlaid  floors  in  Roman  style  have  been  laid 
bare,  testifying  to  the  magnificence  of  the  villas  which 
dotted  the  pleasant  country.  Remnants  of  old  Roman  city 
walls  may  yet  be  seen  at  Chester  and  elsewhere.  The 
straight  lines  of  old  Roman  roads  strike  across  moor  and 
plain.  In  the  geographical  names,  -coin  (Latin  coloaia, 
"colony")  and  -Chester  (Latin  castra,  "camp")  reveal  the 
site  of  early  settlements.  Although  the  Roman  civilization 
prevailed,  and  Latin  was  the  language  of  court  and  Church — 
for  in  the  fourth  century  Christian  missionaries  had  come 
to  Britain,  and  one  of  them,  St.  Alban,  is  said  to  have  died 


The  Eaki.y  Britons  and  Roman  Britain.  41 

for  his  faith  at  Yerulamium,  since  christened  St.  Albans  in 
honor  of  the  martyr — nevertheless  the  Etonian  blood  and 
tongue  show  themselves  bat  slightly  in  the  nation  we  now  call 

English.  On  the  Continent — in  Italy,  in  France,  in  Spain — 
Rome  made  oonqaests  which  influenced  permanently  the  na- 
tional character  and  language.  Their  people,  inextricably 
mingled  now  with  the  conquering  tribes  which  swept  down 
from  the  north  to  the  south  of  the  Roman  Empire,  are  still 
the  "Latin  races;"  their  languages,  strongly  individualized 
as  they  have  been  by  the  clumsy  organs  of  Lombard  ami 
Frank  and  Goth,  are  still  the  "Romance"  languages,  ami  re- 
tain a  similarity  to  the  speech  of  Cicero.  England  Btands 
apart  from  these  nations.  Like  them,  she  was  for  centuries 
a  portion  of  the  Roman  realm,  and,  like  them,  she  was  over- 
run by  tribes  of  heathen  Germans,  yet  out  of  the  long 
welter  she  comes  with  not  a  trace  of  Roman  manners,  and 
scarcely  a  Latin  word  is  on  her  lips. 


42  An  Outlink  History  of  England. 


CHAPTER  III. 

THE  ENGLISH  KINGDOMS.    410  A.  D.-837  A.  D. 

FROM    THE   ROMAN    EVACUATION   TO    THE   SUPREMACY   OF   THE  WEST  SAXONS. 

In  this  and  the  succeeding  chapter  will  be  sketched  the 
main  events  in  the  process  of  transformation  which  took  place 
in  southern  Britain  after  the  withdrawal  of  the  Roman  gar- 
risons, which  left  the  Britons  naked  to  their  enemies,  the  Picts 
and  Scots  of  north  Britain,  and  the  pirates  from  the  German 
lowlands.  The  sources  of  the  history  of  this  period  are 
choked  and  for  the  most  part  dry.  For  the  British  side  of 
the  story  the  Latin  annalists  recorded  little  that  has  survived, 
and  on  the  other  hand  it  was  years  before  the  German 
conquerors  were  sufficiently  civilized  to  make  and  preserve  the 
formal  story  of  their  conquest.  The  period  on  which  we 
now  enter  opens  with  the  year  410  A.  D.  For  a  century 
previous  there  had  been  a  mysterious  movement  of  German- 
speaking  tribes  westward  across  northern  Europe.  It  was 
perhaps  another  of  those  pulse-beats  of  the  Aryan  race  such 
as  had  sent  forth  the  Hellenes,  the  Latins,  and  the  Celts  in  re- 
moter ages.  Some  of  these  German,  or  Teutonic,  hordes 
menaced  the  open  frontier  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  many 
times  broke  through  and  overran  its  provinces.  The  Ro- 
man emperors  were  kept  in  the  field  in  continual  efforts  to 
check  this  resistless  tide  of  paganism.  To  defend  Italy  and 
the  eternal  city  itself  the  outlying  provinces  had  to  be  sac- 
rificed. In  410  the  Emperor  Honorius  called  home  to  Italy 
the  garrisons  which  had  held  the  long  lines  of  the  northern 
ramparts  of  Britain  and  guarded  with  steady  vigilance  the 
ports  along  the  Channel.     It  was  too  late  to  save  Rome  ; 


The   ENGLISH   Kingdoms.  43 

before  the  close  of  the  century  OJoacer,  the  German,  had 
stripped  t lie*  purple  from  the  last  of  the  CsBSarS,  Augustus  the 
Little,  and  Italy  became  the  prey  of  Vandal,  Goth,  and  Lom- 
bard. The  Franks  poured  into  Gaul,  and,  mingling  with 
the  Romanized  Celts,  formed  France  and  the  French  nation  ; 
the  West  Goths  seized  upon  the  Roman  provinces  in  Spain 
and  founded  the  Spanish  rare.  We  shall  soon  see  how  a  trio 
of  German-speaking  tribes  crossed  the  channel,  made  them- 
selves masters  of  southern  Britain,  and  there  made  England 
and  the  English  nation. 

It  was  in  449  A.  D.,  according  to  the  oldest  chronicles,  thai 
the  English  Invaders  first  seized  and  kept  a  slice  of  British  soil. 
They  were  Jutes  by  name,  a  tribe  speaking  a  dialect  of  the 
German  language  and  coming  from  the  southern  part  of 
the  peninsula  now  occupied  by  Denmark,  although  still  bear- 
ing the  name  Jutland.  South  of  them  and  along  the  sea- 
coast  to  the  westward  dwelt  two  nearly  related  tribes,  the 
Saxons  and  the  Angles,  whom  the  success  of  the  first 
comers  soon  tempted  to  similar  raids,  which  ended  in  the 
Anglo-Saxon  sovereignty  of  the  island,  spreading  over  it 
their  English  language,  and  finally  giving  to  it  the  glorious 
name  ■  •;  Angle-land, or  England. 

Vortigern,  British  king  of  Kent,  was  guilty  of  intro- 
ducing the  Jutes  into  his  country.  The  Picts  harassed  him, 
ami  the  German  pirates  plundered  his  sea-board.  So  his 
Crafty   head    conceived    the  plan  of  playing  oil  pirate  against 

Pict,  in  the  hope  of  destroying  both  foes.     The  device  called 

n  his  own  destruction.     Two  Jutish  chiefs,  Hengist  ami 

II   :-..  accepted  his  terms,  drove  out  the  Picts  (440  A.  D.), 

and,  instead  of  retiring  with   their  reward,  turned  upon  the 

men   of    I\.  !,•     and    drove    them    from    their    homes.      Ih>r-a 

perished  in  the  war,  but  Hengisl  lived  long  enough  to  estab- 
lish the  strong  Jutish  kingdom  of  Kent,  which  at   his  death 

oded  to  bis  son, 

the  spirit   of  Hengist,  the  Jute,  took  its  flight  to 


44  An  Outline  History  or  England. 

Valhalla,  the  heaven  of  northern  warriors,  reports  of  his  rich 
prize  had  crossed  the  sea,  and  Ella,  the  Saxon,  with  three  sons 
and  three  ship-loads  of  buccaneers,  had  set  sail  for  this  land  of 
promise,  no  longer  guarded  by  the  Roman  buckler.  In  4*77 
they  landed  on  the  channel  coast  near  the  modern  Chichester, 
and  made  a  place  there  for  their  kingdom  of  Sussex  (South 
Saxony)  by  killing  or  enslaving  the  luckless  Celts.  Such  terror 
of  the  Saxon  name  sank  into  the  Celtic  mind  that  the  English 
traveler  still  finds  himself  called  a  Saxon  in  Celtic  Wales  or 
in  Celtic  Scotland.  As  the  British  Celts  called  all  the  invad- 
ers Saxons,  from  whatsoever  tribe  they  sprang,  so  the  in- 
vaders had  but  one  contemptuous  term  for  all  the  islanders; 
they  were  Welsh  (foreigners  or  aliens)  to  them,  and  Welsh 
their  descendants  are  called  to  this  day. 

The  third  English  kingdom  was  destined  to  become  the 
greatest.  In  495,  about  the  time  when  Ella  and  his  sons 
had  hewn  out  Sussex  with  the  sword,  two  other  German 
chiefs  of  Saxon  blood,  Cerdic  and  his  son,  Cynric,  came  coast- 
ing down  the  channel,  and,  finding  the  Jutes  settled  in  Kent 
and  their  kinsmen  in  Sussex,  kept  on  to  Southampton  Water, 
on  whose  shores  they  first  set  foot  and  fought  the  Welsh. 
The  latter  were  now  thoroughly  alarmed  at  the  rise  of  the 
heathen  kingdoms  among  them,  and  gave  Cerdic's  men 
stiff  battle.  But  the  Saxons,  though  twice  beaten  off,  re- 
turned with  more  ships  and  Jutish  allies,  and  did  finally  con- 
quer a  foothold  which  grew  in  the  thirty  years  of  Cerdic's 
life-time  to  be  Wessex,  the  kingdom  of  the  West  Saxons. 
From  this  stout  Saxon  Cerdic,  the  royal  line  of  England 
may  be  traced  through  the  families  of  Plantagenet,  Tudor, 
and  Stuart  to  the  present  House  of  Hanover,  of  which  Queen 
Victoria  is  the  head.  This  historic  Cerdic,  in  one  of  his 
attempts  to  push  his  dominion  to  the  north-west,  encountered 
a  British  chieftain,  Arthur,  "  the  flower  of  kings,"  whose 
name  is  interwoven  with  all  the  legends  of  that  time,  and  has 
gained  new  luster  in  the  poetry  of  our  own.    At  Baden  Hill,  or 


rW 


Thk  English  Kingdoms.  45 

Badbury,  near  Bath,  in  modern  Dorsetshire,  this  prince  met 
and  repulsed  the  Saxons,  doing  the  work  so  thoroughly  that 
they  advanced  no  farther  on  thai  line,  for  fifty  years.  Here 
alone  history  touches  the  story  of  Arthur.  The  songs  of  the 
Celtic  bards  took  up  the  tale  and  made  their  prince  and  the 
"fifty  Knights  of  Ids  Table  Round"  the  theme  of  a  wonder- 
ful story,  which,  oft-repeated,  has  gained  in  charm  with  each 
retelling,  and  DOW  greets  us  in  perfection  in  Tennyson's 
"  Idyls  of  the  King.''  After  Arthur  and  Cerdic  had  departed 
the  battle  raged  again,  and  ill  ."> 7 7  a  West  Saxon  monarch 
won  the  valleys  of  the  lower  Severn  and  upper  Thames  b\ 
his  victory  at    Deorham,  in  Gloucestershire.     In  the  lower 

course  of  the  Thames  the  Middle  Saxons  had  set  up  about 
London  the  small  state  of  ."Middlesex,  and  in  Essex,  farther 
east,  Mere  the  Ka-t  Saxons. 

It  was  neither  Jute  nor  Saxon,  but  their  kinsman  the  Angle, 
who  occupied  the  greater  part  of  the  country  and  bequeathed 
his  name  to  the  whole.  Yet  history  has  no  clear  record  of  how 
or  when  the  Angles  came.  They  settled  on  the  eastern  coast 
and  in  the  valley  of  the  Trent  in  the  midlands.  Between  the 
Thames  and  the  Wash  lay  their  kingdom  of  East  Anglia,  di- 
vided between  the  North  Folk  and  the  South  Folk  (now  Nor- 
folk and  Suffolk  counties).  North  of  the  [lumber,  and  extend- 
ing beyond  the  present  limits  of  England,  was  Northumbria,  at 

time-,  a  unit  eel  and  complete  kingdom  of  t  he  Angles,  at  another 

under  the  divided  Bway  of  Deira  in  the  Bouth  and  Bernicia 
in  the  north.  In  mid-Britain  was  the  last  of  these  heathen 
States — Mercia,  the  border  or  march  land.  It  cannot  he  said 
with  certainty  when  it  was  founded,  nor  whether  Saxon  or 
Angle  predominated  in  it-  population,  bul  it->  retired  position, 
and  the  genius  of  it-  monarchs,  give  it  for  a  time  a  large 
place  in  the  history  of  t  be  bland. 

Of  all  these  kingdoms  Beven,  Kent,  Sussex,  Wessex,  Essex, 
l.  ■:   Anglia,   Northumbria,  and  Mercia,  were  the  more  im 
portant,  and  are  sometime)!  grouped  together  a- the  Saxon 


46  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

Heptarchy,  or  rule  of  seven.  But  they  were  in  no  sense  a 
league  of  seven  states.  No  sooner  had  they  overcome  the 
Britons  than  they  turned  their  arms  against  each  other. 
Their  constant  wars  ravaged  the  island  and  kept  it  weak. 
The  only  unity  was  that  of  overlordship,  to  which  from  time 
to  time  some  strong  king,  Bretwalda  (wielder  of  Britain), 
raised  himself  and  maintained  for  a  few  years.  The  states 
had  no  definite  boundaries,  but  waxed  and  waned  in  direct 
ratio  of  their  conquests  from  the  "Welsh  and  from  each  other. 

The  seventh  century  dawned  upon  a  Britain  one  third  of 
which  was  British,  two  thirds  English.  The  division  was  on 
a  north  and  south  line.  As  the  map  indicates,  the  Celts  had 
retired  into  the  hill  country  of  the  west,  leaving  the  plains 
and  river-basins  of  the  east  to  the  German  tribes.  The  un- 
subdued west  country  then  comprised  West  Wales  (now 
Cornwall),  North  Wales  (the  Wales  of  later  times),  Cumbria 
(Lancashire  and  the  lake  country),  and  Strathclyde,  lying  on 
both  sides  of  the  Scottish  border.  The  English  had  now 
thoroughly  established  their  conquest,  and  they  no  longer 
waged  a  war  of  extermination  upon  the  islanders.  We  may 
profitably  turn  aside  from  the  course  of  events  to  learn  what 
manner  of  men  were  these  early  English  who  superseded  the 
Romans  as  masters  of  Britain. 

Whence  they  came  we  know,  and  we  know,  too,  that  they 
brought  with  them  the  religion,  government,  and  social  sys- 
tem under  which  they  had  lived  in  the  older  Angle-land  beyond 
the  German  Ocean.  Their  religion  was  that  of  all  the  North 
German  and  Scandinavian  tribes — a  belief  in  many  divini- 
ties, male  and  female.  Woden,  or  Oden,  the  war-god,  the 
direct  ancestor  of  their  royal  families;  Thor,  the  thunder- 
wielder;  Frea,  giver  of  peace  and  plenty;  Saetere,  little 
known  to  us,  and  Tiw,  an  avenging  deity — all  these  names 
we,  the  children  of  the  north,  unconsciously  commemorate  in 
the  Tiw's-day,  Woden's-day,  Thor's-day,  Frea's-day,  and 
Ssetere's-day  of   our  calendar.     Eostre,  the  English  goddess 


'I'm:  English  Kingdoms.  47 

of  the  dawn,  strangely  gives  name  to  the  Christian  Easter. 
N  ior,  a  mischievous  spirit,  is  the  "Old  Nick"  of  oar  common 
Bpeech.  Bat,  beyond  these  names  and  :i  few  local  Buper- 
stitions  lingering  among  the  English  peasants,  the  old  re- 
ligion has  perished  utterly,  leaving  no  lasting  impress. 

It  was  not  s.i  with  the  early  English  Bystem  of  govern- 
ment; the  revolutions  and  changes  of  a  thousand  years  have 
obscured  bat  not  effaced  the  principles  which  the  English 
brought  with  them  to  their  new  abode.  The  German  people 
were  clannish.  Those  of  the  same  name  and  family  con- 
nection dwelt  together,  forming  village  commonwealths.  The 
freemen  of  the  village,  the  lesser " churls,'1  and  the  more 
wealthy  and  influential  "earls"'  met  in  town-meetings  to 
consider  questions  of  public  concern,  and  to  try  criminals  and 
award  justice  in  disputes  between  freeman  and  freeman. 
Besides  these  freemen    there    were   many   serfs   and   slaves — 

the  former  personally  free,  hut  without  political  rights, 
tlje  latter  captives  in  war,  or  churls  whom  desperate  poverty 
had  forced  to  sell  themselves.  The  tribe,  which  was  made 
up  of  a  number  of  these  village  communities,  had  its  ealder- 
nian  (alderman),  and  in  their  English  conquests  several  tribes 

united    under    a    king.      The    Crown    was    partly  hereditary, 

partly  elective.     It  remained  in  <>ne  family,  but  did  not  pass 

by  law  from  father  to  son.  The  elders,  or  wise  men  (toitari), 
in  their  moot  or  meeting  (toitenaffemot),  selected  from  the 
men  of    royal    blood    the  one  best   fitted  to   lead  them  in  war 

and  guide  them  in  peace.  This  witenagemot,  or  council  of 
the  elders,  met  frequently,  and  besides  electing  the  monarch 
.  e  him  advice  in  time-  of  need.  Its  action  may  not  have 
been  strictly  binding,  but  he  would  be  a  headstrong  ruler 
who  would  persist  in  a  course  which  the  firsl  men  of  his 
realm     opposed*       The     king     Led     the     an 1     freemen     to 

battle,  and  decided  their  most    serious  lawsuits  in  time  of 

!'     iwned  land  like  a  common  freeman,  but  ho  had 

likewise   'he  management  "f  the  publia  hue],  or  folk  laud, 


48  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

which  belonged  neither  to  individual  nor  community,  but  to 
the  State.  This  he  granted  to  his  followers  in  return  for 
service  done — to  his  best  lieutenants  in  war  and  to  the  trusted 
body-servants  who  formed  his  household,  or  court,  and  super- 
intended the  details  of  his  business.  These  men  were  called 
the  king's  thanes,  or  servants,  but  their  position  brought 
them  such  wealth  and  distinction  that  they  soon  ranked 
above  the  older  aristocracy  (the  earls  of  the  village  common- 
wealths), and  thane  became  a  coveted  title  of  nobility.  As 
the  kingdoms  increased  in  extent  it  became  inconvenient  for 
many  of  the  elders  to  attend  the  witenagemot,  so  that,  ex- 
cept upon  extraordinary  occasions,  the  royal  thanes  sat 
almost  alone  in  the  council  of  the  king,  though  the  abbots 
and  bishops  seem  to  have  been  associated  with  them  after  the 
conversion  of  the  island  to  Christianity. 

From  the  architecture  and  domestic  arrangements  of  the 
Romans  to  the  homely  dwellings  of  the  English  was  a  long 
step  downward.  The  new-comers  were  agriculturists  and 
fighting  men — not  traders — and  active  commercial  inter- 
course between  England  and  the  Continent  was  interrupted 
for  years.  The  farmers  bred  swine  and  horned  cattle,  and 
sowed  wheat  and  barley  in  the  better  soils.  They  lived  in 
rough  huts  and  halls  of  wood  or  stone,  with  no  glazed 
windows,  a  hole  in  the  roof  for  a  smoke-flue,  beaten  earth  or 
flag-stones  for  floor,  with  rushes  strewn  upon  it  for  carpets. 
They  sat  at  meat,  instead  of  reclining  in  the  Roman  fashion, 
and  they  ate  with  knives  of  steel  and  spoons  of  iron  or  horn. 
They  were  none  too  nice  in  table  manners,  and  the  English- 
man of  this  period  used  no  forks.  Beef  and  pork  formed  their 
principal  food,  washed  down  with  copious  draughts  of  ale 
and  strong  mead  made  from  honey.  They  were  hard  drinkers 
and  hard  fighters,  these  early  English,  and  their  wild  lives 
were  usually  cut  short  by  battle  or  pestilence.  The  tankards 
and  drinking-horns  of  the  period  show  slight  appreciation  of 
art,  and  the  literature  of  the  heathen  time  is  only  relieved  of 


The  English  Kingdoms.  49 

ita  barrenness  by  the  single  epic  poem  of  Beowulf,  oom- 

postMl  l>y  an  unknown  Saxon  Binger  before  the  migration,  and 
broughl  to  England  in  the  memory  of  his  fellow-tribesmen. 

Tin.'  English  differed  in  one  important  particular  from  the 
kindred  nations  which  wrested  France,  Italy,  and  Spain  from 
Rome.  Those  conquering  races  adopted  the  religion  as  well 
as  the  language,  and  to  some  extent  the  laws,  of  the  con- 
quered. Scarcely  a  British  word  survives  in  the  English 
language,  scarcely  a  Celtic  line  in  the  English  face,  and  it 
was  no  British  mission,  but  one  straight  from  Rome,  which 
first  turned  the  English  pagans  from  their  idols  to  the  living 
God.  The  feeling  between  the  two  races  was  too  bitter  to 
encourage  the  British  Christians  to  mission-work  among  the 
Saxons.  The  English  invaders  came  slaughtering  and  burn- 
ing, and  the  horrified  Britons  who  escaped  their  axes  and 
arrows  tied  westward,  cursing  the  barbarous  intruded  The 
priest  <  Sildas,  the  one  British  writer  of  the  period,  speaks  with 
utter  loathing  of  these  blonde  butchers,  "hateful  not  only  to 

man,  but  to  God  himself."    They  were  scarcely  considered  to 

P'.~  ils  worth  the  saving.     Four  generations  were  born 

and  buried  before  this  horror  died  away,  and  intercourse  be- 
tween the  peoples  gradually  obliterated  differences  of  race, 
i  •  •  the  Britons  Bent  <»ut  one  famous  missionary,  Patrick,  the 

it  who  led  in  the  Conversion  of  the  Celts  of  Ireland  in  the 
fifth  century.     From   Ireland,  which   after  St.  Patrick's  de- 
uiie  tic  seat  of  an  active  Christian  Church,  mis- 
lifted  the  cross  <d  Christ  in  the  heart  <>f  Europe, 
on  the  sea-coast  of  Holland,  and  among  those  Picts  who  had 
once  been  the  tenor  of  the  British  Isles.     It  was  an  Irish 
jiti'     .  St.  (     lumba,  who  founded  the  Bchool  and  monastery 
whose  ruins  still  attract  the  tourist  to  the  storm-beaten  island 
.'  .11  a.  offtheScol  tish  west  coast.    Thus,  alt  hough  the  I  Wit  ish 
Church   was  powerless  for  good,  the  earnest   and  devoted 
Irish  clergy  from  lona  shared  with  the  Roman  missionaries 
the  labor  and  the  crown  of  England's  conversion. 


50  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

A  familiar  story  recites  how  Pope  Gregory  the  Great, 
when  a  young  clergyman  at  Rome,  was  attracted  by  the  faces 
of  some  fair-haired  youths  in  the  motley  stock  of  the  slave 
market.  "  Who  are  these  ?"  he  asked  of  the  dealer.  "  These 
are  English — Angles,"  said  the  man.  "  What  sweet  faces  ! 
Surely  not  Angles,  but  angels  !"  {non  Angli,  seel  angeli !) 
exclaimed  the  pitying  priest.  "  Whence  come  they  ?  "  "  From 
Deira."  " De  iraf"  was  Gregory's  Latin  comment.  "'From 
God's  ire '  verily  they  are  snatched,  and  they  shall  come 
to  know  the  mercy  of  Christ!  Who  rules  in  that  land?" 
"  ^Ella."  The  young  man  passed  on  musing,  and  straight- 
way vowed  that  "Alleluia"  should  be  sung  in  ^Ella's  realm. 
This  priest  afterward  became  the  pope,  or  head,  of  the  whole 
Christian  Church  except  that  of  Ireland,  and  set  about  the 
fulfillment  of  his  vow. 

Kent  was  the  threshold  of  Britain.  The  first  Romans  and 
the  first  Englishmen  had  landed  there,  and  Christianity  en- 
tered by  the  same  door.  Ethelbert,  the  pagan  king  of  Kent, 
a  king  so  influential  among  the  neighboring  states  that  the 
chroniclers  entitle  him  Bretwalda,  had  married  a  Christian 
princess,  Bertha,  daughter  of  a  Frankish  king  on  the  other 
side  of  the  Channel.  The  queen  was  allowed  to  worship  as  she 
pleased,  and  it  was  her  pleasure  to  establish  a  Christian 
chapel  in  the  royal  town  of  Canterbury.  To  her  protecting 
court  Pope  Gregory  sent  Augustine,  an  abbot,  with  a  band 
of  preaching  monks,  in  597  A.  D.  King  Ethelbert  feared 
magic,  and  preferred  to  meet  the  strangers  from  Rome  on 
the  Kentish  hill-side  rather  than  in  his  hall.  After  a  few 
months'  delay  he  accepted  their  religion,  and  multitudes  of 
Kentish  men  professed  conversion  and  were  baptized. 
Augustine  was  made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury,  the  head  of 
the  Church  of  England,  and  pressed  the  evangelizing  work 
beyond  the  boundaries  of  the  kingdom.  Essex  forsook 
Woden  and  Thor  and  turned  to  Christ.  Bishops  were  ap- 
pointed to  the  sees  Of  London  and  Rochester.     The  British 


Tin:  English  Kingdoms.  51 

clergy  were  invited  to  aid  in  the  work,  but  jealousy  and  cer- 
emonial differences  interfered,  and  Augustine  kept  on  alone. 

Edwin,  king  of  Northumbria,  was  the  next  point  of  attack. 
He  is  the  fifth  Bretwalda  <>f  the  old  historians,  bu1  in 
li Is  boyhood  it  had  Beemed  unlikely  that  he  would  ever  rule 
even  the  kingdom  to  which  his  birth  entitled  him.  But  he 
fought  himself  into  his  rightful  place,  on  the  throne  of 
Northumbria,  ami  mastered  many  of  his  neighbors.  Edin- 
burgh, on  the  Forth,  was  Edwin's  burg,  or  fortress,  in  the 
north.  At  Chester,  on  the  Dee,  he  built  the  fleet  with 
which  he  took  the  islands  of  .Man  and  Anglesea,  in  the  Irish 
But  we  must  go  hack  a  few  years  to  the  king's  conver- 
sion. 

His  queen,  Ethelburga  of  Kent,  was  the  daughter  of 
Ethelbert,  Augustine's  royal  convert,  and  she,  like  Bertha, 
was  allowed  to  worship  her  God  in  this  heathen  court.  It  is 
said  that  the  king  was  persuaded  by  Paulinus,  his  queen's 
chaplain,  who  preached  Christ  t,,  the  king  in  his  witenage- 
mot,  before  his  priests  and  Lords.  Said  a  noble:*  "So seems 
the  life  of  man,  0  king  :  as  a  sparrow's  flight  through  the 
hall  when  you  are  Bitting  at  meat  in  winter-tide,  with  the 
warm  lire  Lighted  on  the  hearth,  hut  the  icy  rain-storm  with- 
out. Tin-  sparrow  Hies  in  a!  one  door,  and  tarries  for  a  mo- 
ment iu  the  Light  and  heat  of  the  hearth-fire,  and  then  Hying 
forth  from  the  Other  vanishes  into  the  winter  darkness 
whence  it  came.  So  tarries  for  a  moment  the  life  of  man  in 
our  sight,  but  what  is  before  it,  what  after  it,  we  know  not. 
If  this  new  teaching  tells  us  aught    certainly    of   these,  let   us 

follow  it.'"  King  and  council  were  won  over  to  the  Christian 
side,  and  the  aged  nigh-priest  Coifi  led  the  hand  which 
desecrated  the  heathen  temple.  Thus  commenced  the  conver- 
sion of  the  Northumbrians  In  East  Anglia  the  influence  of 
the  Bretwalda,  Ethelbert,  good  Bertha's  husband,  wrought 
tin-  conversion  of  Redwald,  the  Icing,  bul  it  is  said  thai    the 

♦Green's  Sh  Peopk,  p.  -1  (Amer.  edition). 


52  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

common  people  clung  so  fondly  to  the  old  gods  that  the 
king  allowed  Christians  and  heathen  to  worship  in  the  same 
churches. 

After  the  first  triumph  of  the  new  faith  its  outward  success 
ceased  for  a  time.  The  conversion  of  a  king  did  not  regen- 
erate the  hearts  of  his  people,  nor  always  of  his  own  family. 
Ethelbert's  son,  Edbald,  was  a  royal  backslider,  and  the 
Christian  bishops  of  that  kingdom  were  discouraged  to  the 
point  of  leaving  the  island  when,  as  by  miracle,  his  heart 
was  softened  and  Kent  reclaimed.  Essex  also  fell  into  the 
old  ways,  and  at  Edwin's  death  (633)  the  gods  whom  Coifi  had 
insulted  won  back  their  Northumbrian  worshipers. 

The  defeat  and  death  of  the  Bretwalda  Edwin  by  Penda, 
king  of  Mercia,  introduces  a  new  figure.  The  Mercians  were 
so  far  inland  that  they  had  not  yet  been  reached  by  Augus- 
tine's monks.  Penda's  court  Avould  thus  become  the  refuge 
of  those  whom  the  downfall  of  the  old  religion  affected  in 
Kent,  Essex,  East  Anglia,  and  Northumbria.  Priests  and 
employees  of  the  Woden  worship,  used  to  the  reverence  of 
the  people  and  the  favor  of  the  king,  would  in  general  resist 
the  entrance  of  the  Roman  clergy.  The  disaffection  of  the 
common  people  of  the  partially  Christianized  kingdoms  also 
encouraged  Penda  to  raise  the  standard  of  Woden  and  make 
war  upon  Christians  in  the  name  of  the  old  religion.  A  Welsh 
prince,  Cadwallon,  joined  his  forces  with  the  Mercian  army, 
and  after  conquering  a  wide  realm  from  his  neighbors  in 
central  Britain,  Penda  struck  down  Edwin  of  Northumbria, 
and  Sigbert  of  East  Anglia,  and  won  the  title  of  Bretwalda. 
Oswald,  the  new  king,  stopped  Cadwallon's  northward  ad- 
vance in  the  battle  of  "  Heaven's  Field  "  (635),  fighting  under 
the  standard  of  the  cross.  The  cross  of  Oswald  was  not  of 
Roman  origin.  In  his  youth  Prince  Oswald  had  been  convert- 
ed by  the  Irish  monks  of  Iona,  and  when  he  became  king  of 
Northumbria  he  summoned  missionaries  from  that  monastery, 
and  not  from  Canterbury,  to  labor  among  his  people.     Aidan 


Tin;  English  Kingdoms.  53 

came  and  was  made  a  bishop,  with  his  seat  at  Liodisfarne, 

or  the  Holy  Isle,  near  the  mouth  of  the  Tweed.  Oswald's 
conversion  was  thorough,  and  wherever  he  carried  his  con- 
quests he  set  up  the  cross.  Wessex,  already  the  preaching- 
ground    of    Gaulish    monks,    owned    his   overlordship,  and 

its  king  professed  his  Christ.  This  isolated  Penda  and  his 
heathen  kingdom,  hut  they  still  held  out  a  score  of  years. 
Oswald  fell,  like  Edwin,  in  battle  (642)  with  the  pagan,  and 
was  Buoceeded  by  Oswy.  Aidan's  pious  monks  of  Lindis- 
Farne  never  ceased  teaching  and  preaching  among  the  North- 
umbrians; they  even  found  a  way  to  Mercia  and  to  the  heart 
of  King  Penda's  son,  hut  they  could  not  touch  the  old  king. 
He  persecuted  none,  but  yielded  nothing.  In  655  Oswy,  of 
Northumbria,  vowed  to  give  God  his  daughter  and  twelve 
monasteries  if  so  he  might  rid  his  realm  of  the  heathen  who 
had  vexed  it.  The  battle  was  fought  at  Winwaad,  and 
Penda,  the  champion  of  the  old  religion,  there  met  his 
(hath.  Henceforth  the  Gospel  was  freely  proclaimed  in 
Mi  rcia,  and  the  last  of  the  English  kingdoms  accepted  the 
new  faith. 

From  the  landing  of  St.  Augustine  in  Kent  to  Penda's 
defeat  and  death  was  scarcely  sixty  years,  a  short  time 
for  the  conversion  of  a  land  like  England.  In  fact,  we  must 
believe  that  it   was  only   in   courts  and   towns,  and   upon   the 

more  cultivated  few,  that  the  early  preachers  made  their 
impression.  Tin'  Farmer  on  the  moor-land,  the  peasant  in 
his  hut,  the  miner,  the  shepherd,  and  the  fisherman  long  lived 
in  utter  darkness  until  the  Belf-sacrificing  zeal  of  the  monks 
brought  the  Gospel  to  their  humble  doors.  The  Abbey  of 
Lindisfarne  w  a-- 1  lie  greal  norl  hern  Bchool  which  trained  many 
missionaries.  Ceadda,  or  St.  (had  (whose  memory  is  still 
revered  at  Lichfield),  was  the  evangel  of  middle  England, 

and  St.  Cuthbert,   another,  is   the   patron   saint    of  the  Dorth 

countrymen.     Bfelrose  Abbey,  in  the  Scottish  Lowlands,  was 

his  mission  station,  whither  lie  returned  alter  long  tours 


54  An  Outline  History  op  England. 

among  the  villagers.  Himself  a  Northumbrian  shepherd  boy, 
he  was  nearer  to  the  hearts  and  lives  of  his  people  than  were 
the  Irish  monks  of  Ionaand  Lindisfarne,  and  his  sowing  came 
to  a  rich  reaping.  The  story  of  his  life  is  beautiful  for  its 
humble  service,  simple  faith,  and  unselfish  devotion  to  God 
and  the  welfare  of  his  countrymen. 

The  English  Christians  of  the  seventh  century  were   not 
united.     Each   kingdom   had  its   independent    bishop    and 
clergy,  and,  indeed,  the  bishops  were  not  of  one  belief  nor  of 
one  practice.     While  the  south-eastern  churches  looked  up 
to  the  Roman  pope,  as  they  had  been  taught  by  Augustine 
and  his  Canterbury  monks,  the  north,  which  had  been  illu- 
mined by  the  light  from  Lindisfarne,  acknowledged  the  su- 
premacy, not  of  the  Roman  but  of  the  Celtic  Church,  which 
St.  Patrick  had  nurtured  in  Ireland  and  St.  Columba  had 
transplanted  to  Britain.    Both  branches  were  Christian,  but 
the  protracted  isolation  of  the  Irish  and  Roman  branches  had 
given  rise  to  differences  between  them  which  tended  to  bit- 
ter strife.     The  controversy  concerned  only  such  slight  mat- 
ters as  the  date  of  Easter,  form  of  tonsure,  and  minor  cere- 
monials, but  while  it  lasted  it  was  an  evil,  and  King  Oswy  did 
well  to  bring  it  to  an  end.     In  064  he  summoned  represent- 
atives from  Iona  and  Canterbury  to  the  monastery  of  Whitby, 
memorable  as  the  abode  of  Caedmon,  the  first  English  poet, 
and  bade  each  party  to  set  forth  its  case.     His  decision,  which 
was  for  the  Roman  usages,  cleared  the  way  for  the  unification 
of  the  English  Church.     Theodore  of  Tarsus,  whom  the  pope 
consecrated  archbishop  of  Canterbury  (G69),  brought  order 
and  system  into  the  religious  establishment.     His  far-seeing 
eye  laid  off  the  English  kingdoms  into  a  larger  number  of  dio- 
ceses, each  in  charge  of  a  bishop,  each  bishop  subject  to  the 
primate  or  archbishop  of  Canterbury.     (It  was  not  until  after 
Theodore's  death  that  the  northern  dioceses  were  gathered 
into  a  second  province  under  the  primacy  of  the  archbishop 
of  York.)     The  wandering  preachers  gave  place   to   local 


The  English  Kingdoms.  55 

priests,  and  the  churches  and  chapels,  monasteries  and 
schools,  which  multiplied  in  England,  gave  witness  t<>  the 
wisdom  and  skill  of  Theodore's  directing  hand.  The  Celtic 
influence,  defeated  in  WTiitby  Synod,  was  withdrawn.  Col- 
man,  the  abbot,  and  his  monks  retired  from  Lindisfarne,  and 
the  walls  of  Iona  crumbled  in  neglect.  For  eight  hundred 
years  the  Church  of  England,  the  center  of  its  education 
and  literature,  acknowledged  the  pope  of  Rome  as  its  earthly 
ruler.  The  result  was  twofold:  England  was  again  linked 
to  the  Continent,  whose  nations  were  qow  all  Catholic  Chris- 
tians, and  the  unification  of  the  English  Church  prefigured 
and  expedited  1  li< ■  unification  of  the  English  kingdoms. 

The  English  clergy,  meeting  from  time  to  time  in  national 
councils,  foretold  that  the  boundaries  of  Wessex,  Mercia, 
and  Northumbria,  and  the  lesser  states,  would  vanish  and 
give  place  to  one  grand  English  kingdom.  The  events  which 
marked  the  progress  of  this  consolidation  extend  through 
a  long  period.     The  English  conquests  began  in  the  middle  of 

fifth  century  1 1 19);  they  were  substantially  com  pie  ted  l>y 
the  middle  of  the  -i\ih,  when  three  fifths  of  England  was 
divided  among  sev<  a  superior  and  a  half-dozen  lesser  Anglo- 
Saxon  kingdoms.  Then  foil,. we. 1  the  successive  rise  of  sep- 
arate states  to  temporary  pre-eminence  among  their  neigh- 
bors. Some  of  these  we  have  noticed  in  our  account  of  the 
conversion  of  Britain,  and  have  Been  seven  Bretwaldas,  the 
last  three  of  whom  were  the  powerful  Northumbrian  kings, 
Edwin,  Oswald,  and  Oswy.  The  son  of  Oswy  extended  the 
supremacy  of  Northumbria  over  Cumbria  (now  Lancashire 
and  Westmoreland),  and  then  (685),  in  battle  with  the  Picts, 
lost  hi>  life  and  his  country's  position.  Although  Northum- 
bria w:is  no  longer  chief  among  English  states  it  was  a  leader 
in  religious  and  literary  development .     I  Iere  was  Lindisfarne, 

•appearing  in  early  history  ;  Whitby,  the  home  of  ] ■ 

I     dmon,  the  Anglo-Saxon  poet,  whose  "Song  of  the  Cre- 

n  '"  may  have  suggested  to  Milton  some  scenes  of  Paradise 


56  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

Lost;  Wearmouth,  whence  apostles  of  the  Gospel  did  foreign 
mission-work  in  Europe,  and  J  arrow,  a  sacred  house  famous 
for  its  monk  Beda,  whose  character  and  learning  distin- 
guished him  as  "the  Venerable  Bede."  He  was  the  most 
learned  man  of  his  time,  versed  in  Greek,  Latin,  Hebrew,  and 
his  mother-tongue,  the  Low  German  dialect  of  the  Angles. 
The  fruits  of  his  study  were  many  books,  the  most  valuable 
to  us  being  a  Latin  history  of  the  English  Church,  the  most 
dear  to  him  and  his  countrymen  being,  doubtless,  the 
Anglo-Saxon  version  of  the  gospels,  which  employed  his  last 
hours.  Pie  dictated  the  closing  sentences  of  John's  gospel  a 
few  minutes  before  his  death. 

Mercia,  in  the  Midlands,  awakened  from  heathenism  to 
new  life,  and  still  ruled  by  a  prince  of  Penda's  Woden-de- 
scended line,  aimed  to  reach  the  high  place  from  which  North- 
unibria  fell.  Wessex,  on  the  south  coast,  the  kingdom  which 
Cerdic  founded,  but  which  had  remained  in  obscurity,  became 
the  chief  rival  of  Mercia.  The  lesser  kingdoms  owned  now  to 
Mercian,  now  to  West  Saxon,  overlordship.  The  kings  of 
Wessex,  as  they  found  opportunity,  had  steadily  driven  their 
conquests  westward  to  the  Bristol  Channel,  forcing  the 
Britons  to  the  tip  of  Cornwall's  rocky  tongue.  Ine,  who 
ruled  for  thirty-eight  years  (688-726),  brought  British  Som- 
erset and  Jutish  Kent  under  his  power,  and  drew  up  a  law- 
code  which  still  exists;  but  he  could  not  conquer  the  Mer- 
cians, who  in  the  next  reign  made  Wessex  their  tributary 
state.  Under  King  Cuthred  the  West  Saxons  broke  their 
Mercian  yoke  in  the  fight  at  Burford  (752),  and  never  wore 
another  of  English  manufacture. 

The  three  greater  English  kingdoms  no  longer  fought 
solely  against  each  other.  Northumbria  conquered  the 
Britons  of  Strathclyde  (756),  and  tried  to  guard  her  coast 
from  a  new  foe — the  Danes.  Under  King  Offa  (755-794) 
Mercia  turned  her  arms  from  her  kindred  against  the 
Britons,    conquered    the    Welsh   kingdom    of    Powys,    and 


The  English  KINGDOMS.  til 

built  i  wall — Offa's  Dike — connecting  the  Wye  and  Dee 
Rivera,  and  fencing  the  Colts  into  the  principality  of  Wales, 
which  they  Mill  occupy.  In  order  tit  establish  the  independ- 
ence of  the  Church  in  his  kingdom,  Offa  persuaded  the  pope 

to  consecrate  a  third  English  archbishop,  whose  seal   should 

be  at  Lichfield,  and  whose  province  should  include  all  bishop- 

-  between  Thames  and  [lumber,  but  the  arrangement  did 

not  Long  survive  him.  Lichfield  sank  hack  to  an  ordinary 
bishopric,  and  the  provinces  of  Canterbury  and  York  re- 
sumed their  late  possessions.  Canterbury  has  never  lost  its 
place  at  the  head  of  the  English  churches.  Offa\s  kingdom 
W8S  no  more  permanent  than  his  church-establishment.  His 
weak  successors  were  confronted  by  Egbert,  a  West  Saxon 
king,  whom  no  other  English  monarch,  Angle,  Jute,  or  Saxon, 
could  withstand.  In  his  youth  Egbert  had  been  excluded 
from  the  throne  of  his  ancestor  Ine,  and  had  been  a  fugitive 
at  <  tffa'fl  court,  and  afterward  on  the  Continent,  at  the  court 
which  Charles  the  6rea1  (Charlemagne)  was  making  the 
ne-:  splendid  in  Christendom.  Charles  conceived  the  idea 
of  reviving  the  Roirftin  Empire  with  himself  at  its  head  and 
the  Church  as  Ins  ally.  At  Koine,  in  St.  Peter's  Church, 
on  Christmas  day,  800  A.  !>.,  Pope  Leo  III.  placed  upon 
Charles's  brow  the  crown  of  the  Roman  Caesars.  This  event, 
marks  the  beginning  of  die  modern  history  of  Europe, 
and  the  Holy  Roman  Empire,  which  that  day's  act  created, 
continued  for  a  thousand  years,  expiring  in  the  first  decade 

Of  the  nineteenth  century,  its  life  trampled  out  by  the 
armies    of    Napoleon     Bonaparte.      To    this   empire    England 

never  became  subject;  bul  it  is  probable  that  Egbert's  expe- 
rience in  'he  conquering  armies  of  the  emperor,  among  the 
statesmen  who  helped  Charles  to  organize  his  realm,  and 
in  that  splendid  coronation  scene  at  Koine  broadened  the 
mind  of  the  Saxon  and  qualified  him  for  the  throne.  The 
death  of  a  rival  left  him  king  of  Wessex  (802).     By  brave 

and  persistent  effort  he-  .strengthened  his  dominions  at  home, 


58  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

reduced  Kent  and  Sussex,  Essex  and  East  Anglia  in  succes- 
sion, defeated  the  Mercians  and  gained  their  submission,  and 
led  a  conquering  army  into  Northumbria.  To  a  greater  cr 
less  degree  all  England  owned  his  sway.  The  old  title  of 
Bretwalda  was  revived  and  bestowed  upon  him,  but  he  was 
more  powerful  than  any  of  his  Mercian  or  Northumbrian 
predecessors,  and  fairly  merits  the  distinction  "  First  King 
of  the  English."  He  was  not  the  only  king  in  England  ; 
the  old  Saxon  kingdoms  retained  their  subkings — some  were 
merely  tributary  to  Egbert  of  Wessex,  some  were  under  his 
personal  government;  but  now  for  the  first  time  since  Hengist 
and  Horsa  plunged  through  the  surf  to  the  beach  at  Ebbsfleet 
all  England  was  in  some  slight  degree  under  the  control  of  a 
single  ruler.  The  chronicles  of  the  time  are  filled  with  the 
names  of  Egbert's  battles  with  the  Welshmen,  and  with 
Norse  viking  vessels,  but  he  seems  to  have  stoutly  held  all 
that  he  won  until  his  death,  which  took  place  837  A.  D. 


The  English  and  the  Northmen1. 


CHAPTER  IV. 

THE   ENGLISH  AND    THE   NORTHMEN.      837  A.  D.-1066   A.  D. 
PBBMAOY  OF  THE  WE8T  SAXONS  TO  THE  XOU.MAN  CONQUEST. 

Before  the  death  of  Egberl  (837)  England  was  warned  of 
an  approaching  danger.  The  tribes  of  northern  Enrope,  nrged 
by  some  unknown  impulse,  had  recommenced  their  attacks 
upon  the  nations  of  the  south.  The  history  of  the  ninth, 
tenth,  and  eleventh  centuries  runs  strangely  parallel  with 
tli.it  of  the  third, fourth,  and  fifth.  In  the  earlier  period  the 
Roman  Empire  was  overrun  by  German  barbarians;  in  the 
later  era  these  German  settlers,  now  civilized  and  Christian- 
ized, ha>l  in  their  turn  to  meet  the  heathen  hordes  from  Nor- 
way, Sweden,  and  Denmark.  The  Englishmen  who  had 
mastered   Britain  now  met,  and  after  Btrenuous  resistance 

yielded  to  the  Danes — the  name  which  in  the  English  chroni- 
cle Stands  for  any  and  all  of  the  Scandinavian  people,  whether 
from  Norway,  Sweden,  or  from  Denmark  itself. 

I'  was  in  789,  according  to  the  old  record,  that  the  Danes 
first    landed   in   England,  and    for  a  hundred  years  plunder 

-  tin-  only  apparent  object  of  their  incursions.     "  Vikings  n 

we  call  t!  rly  pirates,  "men  <>(  the  viks"  or  bays,  in 

which  tiny   ni cd    their    lighl    craft.     Their  ships    were 

driven  by  both  oar  and  sail,  and  were  better  manned  and 
officered  than  any  vessels  of  the  Bouth.  Their  pirate  mas- 
i  lasted  nlong  the  German  Ocean  to  the  Channel,  Bis- 
cay, and  the  Mediterranean.  With  matchless  audacity  they 
ascended  the  Seine  and  burned  Paris,  plundered  Bordeaux 
on  the  Garonne,  took  Lisbon  in  Portugal,  Seville  in  Spain, 
and  despoiled   rich   Italian   sea-ports.    These  exploits  were 


60  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

performed  by  single  chiefs  at  the  head  of  swift  squad- 
rons, who  swooped  down  upon  unguarded  points  and  es- 
caped with  their  booty  before  the  stricken  people  could 
gather  force  to  punish  them.  Although  the  earlier  Danes 
made  no  attempt  at  an  English  conquest,  they  soon 
seized  upon  outlying  portions  of  the  British  Isles.  The 
Orkneys,  Shetlands,  and  Hebrides,  with  portions  of  the 
Scottish  Highlands  and  a  large  part  of  Ireland,  were  early 
subject  to  Danish  princes,  and  the  early  glory  of  Ireland — her 
Church  and  civilization — was  lost  in  the  confusion  of  heathen 
wars  and  Danish  domination.  At  times  the  Danes  allied 
themselves  with  the  Welsh  for  a  combined  assault  upon  the 
English,  and  it  was  such  a  mixed  force  that  Egbert  defeated 
in  his  famous  fight  at  Hengestesdun  (836). 

The  successors  of  Egbert  could  not  maintain  his  mastery 
over  the  English  kingdoms,  and  some  of  them  had  much  ado 
to  hold  their  own  realm  of  Wessex  against  the  downpour  of 
Northmen.  The  old  Sax6n  chronicles  abound  in  notes  of 
the  Danish  attacks.  Their  ships,  singly  or  in  fleets, 
came  almost  yearly,  and  they  were  only  beaten  off  with 
heavy  loss.  In  851  an  armada  of  three  hundred  and  fifty 
Danish  vessels  entered  the  Thames  and  burned  the  great 
trading  town  of  London  and  the  sacred  city  of  Canterbury  be- 
fore Ethelwolf  (837-858),  Egbert's  son,  could  drive  them  back 
to  their  ships.  The  monasteries  of  the  north  were  favorite 
prey  of  these  Woden-worshipers.  The  abbeys  of  Wear- 
mouth  and  Lincoln,  Ely,  Peterborough,  and  Croyland  were 
burned  and  their  inmates  ruthlessly  massacred.  The  brief 
reigns  of  Ethelbald  (858-860)  and  the  first  Ethelbert  (860- 
866),  the  elder  sons  of  Ethelwolf  of  Wessex,  were  similarly 
distracted  by  incessant  calls  to  arms.  While  their  younger 
brother,  Ethelred  I.  (866-871),  ruled  the  West  Saxons,  the 
Danes  changed  their  plan  of  attack.  Abandoning  their  raids 
and  sudden  forays,  they  now  came  to  conquer  and  dwell  among 
the  English.     Some  Norse  sagas,  or  legends,  preserved  in  the 


Tin:  English  and  the  Northmen. 


Gl 


ENGLISH  KINGS  OF  THE  HOUSE  OF  CEHDIC,  FROM  EGBERT. 

EGBERT, 
reigned  BOS-SSL 

ETHELWOLF, 
r.  sir  858. 


F.rilKl.P.ALD,  ETHELBERT,  ETHELRED  I.  ALFRED, 

r.  8j8-«50.  r.  800-866.  r.  8C0-S71.  p.  871-901. 


EDWARD,  Etnelfled, 

'tiik  ki.i'kk,"    "Tin'  Liidv  «.f  Mercla. 
r.  901 


ETHKI.STANE,         EDMUND  I. 

r.  925  m  r.  '.'I"  '.'!';. 


F.:>KEr». 

r.  '.MO-U55. 


EDWY. 


1.  Ethclttal    ~   EDGAR  -  2.  .E(/n./<i. 
I  r.  969  975. 


I 
EDWARD 

1  THK  MAKTYR," 

r.  975  -979. 


1.  .V.iMi--         K.niKl.KKH  II.  "  2.  Emma  of 


una  rtain. 


"TIIK  I'NKK  IDT." 

r.  979  1010. 


Normandy  =  0.  Caniit<\ 
I  "The  Dane, 
|  r.  1017  1085. 


EDMUND  n.   ulRO»8ID«,"  Alfr.-.i, 

r.  April  88  Nov.  80,  d.  1030. 

ioia. 


EDWARD 

"  INK 
roXFKSSOfl," 

r.  1048  low. 


Hardtcanute, 

r.  lo-io  -io» i 


Edmund, 


Edward, 

d.  1067, 

m.  Agatha. 


gar,  Margaret, 

'Tin-  Aih.-iing,"        d.  am, 

elected  m.  Malcolm  III., 

Kinu  oj  & 


kmir  lii 


Ida, 

d.  UK 

m.  HENRY  J.. 

Norman  King  of 

England. 

(Son  of  wiiiium  Conqueror.) 


62  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

literature  of  Iceland — another  of  the  viking  conquests — tell 
fanciful  tales  of  the  northern  heroes.  It  is  said  that  the  vi- 
king Ragnar  Lodhrog,  cast  by  stress  of  weather  upon  the 
Northumbrian  coast,  was  cast  into  a  pit  of  serpents  by  the 
English  king,  and  tidings  of  his  miserable  death  aroused  his 
tribesmen  to  revenge.  They  came  in  force  in  866  and  gained 
the  upper-hand  of  Mercia  and  Northumbria.  Four  years  later 
they  occupied  East  Anglia,  whose  subking,  Edmund,  was 
offered  his  freedom  if  he  would  exchange  his  Christianity 
for  the  heathen  religion.  Savage  cruelties  followed  his  re- 
fusal. The  king  was  lashed  to  a  tree,  scourged  with  rods, 
made  a  target  for  arrows,  and  finally  beheaded.  His  con- 
stancy under  torture  won  for  his  memory  the  admiration  of 
his  subjects,  and  not  many  years  after,  when  the  pagans  had 
quietly  given  up  their  gods  for  the  Gospel,  a  splendid  abbey 
(Bury  St.  Edmund's)  rose  at  the  order  of  Canute,  the  Danish 
king,  above  the  grave  of  "  Saint "  Edmund.  Elated  with 
their  triumphs,  the  lords  of  half  Britain  rushed  upon  Wessex 
to  complete  their  conquest.  But  they  found  their  match  at 
Ashdune  (871),  where  Ethelred,  with  his  young  brother, 
Prince  Alfred,  beat  them  with  great  slaughter.  The  death 
of  Ethelred  in  this  same  year  brought  Alfred,  the  last  of 
EthelwolPs  sons,  to  the  throne  of  Wessex. 

King  Alfred,  "  the  Great,"  was  twenty-one  years  old  when 
he  faced  the  responsibility  of  defending  and  ruling  his  king- 
dom. There  still  exists  a  life  of  this  king,  written  by  the  care- 
ful hand  of  one  who  knew  and  loved  him  well.  His  grace 
and  beauty  marked  him  as  the  favorite  in  the  group  of  young 
princes,  and  his  father  had  further  distinguished  him  by 
sending  him  to  Rome,  at  five  years  of  age,  where  Pope  Leo 
IV.  consecrated  his  flaxen  head  for  the  crown  it  should  one 
day  wear.  The  prince  had  a  busy  brain,  a  strong  arm,  a 
marvelous  memory,  and  loved  books  as  he  did  the  chase. 
In  the  first  year  of  his  reign  he  fought  one  doubtful  battle 
with  his  everlasting  enemies,  and  then  enjoyed  a  few  years 


\J^  Orkney 


Tin:  English  ajtd  tiik  Xortiimin.  C3 

of  respite  while  they  were  strengthening  their  hold  upon  the 
northern  kingdoms.  In  876,  however,  the  Danes  returned  to 
Wessex  in  great  force,  and  could,  neither  be  bribed  nor  ex- 
pelled. Alfred,  hard  pressed,  tied  from  his  palace  to  the 
swamps  of   Somersetshire  with  a  small  body-guard.     Here, 

-  a  common  legend,  he  Bought  refuge  with  a  peasant  wife, 
who, ignorant  of  his  royal  rank,  scolded  him  Bharply  because 

let  the  cakes  burn  which  she  had  left  him  to  watch.  The 
freemen  of  the  south  rallied  to  the  standard  of  the  good  king 
at  Athelney,  where  he  raised  a  fort  among  the  marshes,  and 
whence  he  sallied  forth  in  the  spring  of  878  to  try  conclusions 

with  the  foe.  He  won.  Guthrum,  the  Dane,  agreed  to  the 
peace  of   Wedmore,  and  was   baptized   into  the   Christian 

faith.  The  peace  saved  Wessex,  but  recognized  the  Dan- 
ish sovereignty  of  almost  the  whole  of  England  north  of  the 
Thames  valley,  the  territory  called  the  Danedaw.  The  terms 
of  the  treaty  may  not  have  seemed  glorious,  but  it  was  I  he  sal- 
vation of  the  We8t  Saxonfl  to  enjoy  peace  at  any  price  at  the 

moment  when  the  rest  of  the  island  was  passing  through  the 
storm  of  War.  Only  once  in  the  next  fifteen  years  was  Alfred 
called  to  battle.  In  B93  a  new  influx  <>f  Northmen  from  the 
Continent,  under  Hastings,  joined  with  the  men  of  the  Dane- 
law and  the  rebellious  Welsh  against  his  rising  power;  but  in 
a  series  of  campaigns  easl  and  west,  led  by  the  king,  his  son 
Prince  Edward,  and  his  son-in-law,  Alderman  Ethelred  of 
M.  rcia,   the   invaders   were   repelled   and    the   insurrection 

crushed  ("'.'7). 

The  history  of  rnost  of  the  early  kings  is  either  filled  with 
battles  or  left   blank.     The  reader  who  has  complained  of 

the  Confusion  of    petty  wars  through  which  our  way  has  led 

thus  far  must  know  the  fact  that  until  Alfred's  reign  the 
chronicle  b  bare  of  real  statesmanship,  or  of  recorded  prog- 
r<  is  in  literature  and  the  arts.    Alfred  w&a  a-  '.Meat  in  peace 

a-  in  war,  and  greater  in  nothing  than  in  the  moral  purpose 
which   pervaded   all  his  activity.       "To   live   worthily''  was 


64  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

his  motto.  To  protect  his  realm  he  devised  a  more  effect- 
ive military  system,  and  built  the  first  royal  English  navy. 
From  the  law-codes  of  the  English  kingdoms  he  selected  the 
best  laws  for  the  government  of  his  own  people.  To  the 
administration  of  justice  in  the  law-courts  he  gave  personal 
attention,  reviewing  the  decisions  of  the  aldermen  and  thanes 
who  sat  as  judges,  and  enforcing  their  awards  and  penal- 
ties upon  the  more  powerful  offenders.  The  king  took  note 
of  all  the  activities  of  his  people;  he  invented  a  clock  for 
marking  time  by  the  burning  of  candles  ;  he  improved  their 
methods  of  building,  and  suggested  new  and  better  processes 
in  the  handicrafts.  The  ignorance  that  had  drifted  in  upon 
the  island  with  the  coming  of  the  Danes  vexed  him  sorely, 
and  he  labored  like  a  monk  to  shed  abroad  a  little  of  learn- 
ing's light.  The  king  himself  translated  into  the  Wessex 
dialect  the  histories  and  religious  books  of  Northumbrian 
Bede,  and  such  Latin  histories  of  Europe  and  works  upon 
science  and  travel  as  he  could  obtain.  Scholars  came  from 
the  Continent  at  his  invitation  to  revive  a  taste  for  learning 
among  the  English,  and  the  sons  of  his  nobles  were  carefully 
educated  under  the  royal  eye.  By  him,  or  by  his  direction, 
the  invaluable  English  Chronicle,  a  yearly  record  of  events 
in  the  island,  was  compiled  from  existing  annals  and  main- 
tained long  after  his  death.  Kind  of  heart,  simple  in  tastes 
and  manner,  strong  of  will,  was  this  first  English  hero.  King 
Alfred  died  in  the  first  year  of  the  tenth  century,  and  at  the 
threshold  of  the  twentieth  we  have  to  confess  that  no  En- 
glish sovereign  in  the  thousand  years  between  has  surpassed 
Alfred  in  his  fitness  to  rule  a  nation. 

Of  Alfred's  five  children,  only  one,  Edward  the  Elder, 
wore  a  crown  ;  one  daughter,  Ethelfled,  married  Ethelred, 
alderman  of  Mercia,  and  another  daughter  became  countess 
of  Flanders  and  grandmother  of  Matilda,  the  first  Norman- 
English  queen.  Edward  inherited  many  of  his  father's  great 
qualities.     He  ruled  twenty-four  years  (901-925),  and  reaped 


Tin:  English  and  thb  NTobthmkn.  65 

tin'  fruits  of  Wedmore  peace.  That  treaty  had  Baved  Wes- 
st'x  from  the  Danes,  and  Alfred's  military  and  administrative 
reforms  had  laid  the  foundations  of  a  stronger  kingdom  than 
any  yet  known  in  the  island.  Edward  took  the  offensive, 
and  with  the  aid  of  his  Bister  Ethelfled,  the  "  Lady  of  the 
Mercians,'1  won  back  the  greater  part  of  the  Dane-law. 
The  Danes  of  this  region  had  Bettled  down  beside  the  En- 
glish, adopting  their  religion  and  fitting  themselves  easily  to 
the  English  ways  of  life.     The  two  races  were  of  kindred  an- 

itry,  and  spoke  closely  related  languages;  both  had  wor- 
shiped Woden,  and  neither  had  been  molded  by  contact 
with  the  Roman  civilization.  The  lasting  hatred  which  kept 
Briton  from  Englishman  was  unknown  between  Saxons  and 
Danes,  whose  Christian  children,  dwelling  on  adjacent  farm- 
ids,  forgot  in  time  of  peace  the  burnings  and  massacres  of 
their  heathen  fathers.  Over  this  mixed  people  of  the  north 
Edward  gained  lordship.  All  Britain — English,  Danish, 
Welsh,  Scotch — was  subject  cither  to  him  or  to  Bubkings 
who  acknowledged  his  superiority.  His  authority  was  great- 
er than  that  of  any  preceding  monarch,  and  in  his  reign 
England  advanced  far  toward  a  permanent  unity. 

A  writer  of  the  Bucceeding  century — William,  a  monk  of 
Malmesbury — describes    Prince    Athelstan,    or    Ethelstane 

140),  who  was  chosen  to  the  throne  of  Edward,  his 
father:  "  He  was  of  proper  stature,  thin  in  person,  his  hair 
flaxen  and  beautifully  wreathed  with  golden  threads.  Lib- 
eral he  was  of  his  wealth,  humble  and  courteous  toward  the 
clergy,  mild  and  pleasanl  to  the  laity,  practicing  dignityand 
]■•  -•  rve  toward  his  nobles,  and  greeting  the  common  people 

with   all    kindness."      'I 'he   same    monkish  writer    tells   of  the 

kimr'^  battle  with  the  Northumbrian  Danes,  or  rather  with 
Anlaf,  a  viking  who  aroused  Northumbrians,  Welsh,  and 
S  its  against  tin-  king  of  the  Bouth.  The  northern  league 
was  shattered  in  the  1. attic  of  Brunanburgh,  celebrated  in 
popular  song  and   story  for  yean  to  come.     A  few  nights 


66  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

before  the  battle  came  Anlaf  (or  Olaf)  to  Atlielstan  in 
minstrel  guise  singing  and  playing  in  the  royal  tent.  The 
Saxon  flung  him  a  piece  of  gold,  which  the  proud  Dane 
scornfully  buried  in  the  earth.  A  Danish  deserter  in  the 
camp  recognized  his  old  master,  and  after  his  departure  told 
the  king  who  the  minstrel  was.  Athelstan  changed  his  sleep- 
ing-place that  night,  and  wisely,  for  at  midnight  the  camp 
was  surprised  and  the  bishop,  who  slept  where  the  royal  tent 
had  stood,  was  slain  by  the  false  minstrel's  men.  A  few 
days  later  Brunanburgh  was  fought  and  Anlaf  soundly 
beaten.  This  was  the  bloodiest  conflict  yet  known  in 
En  id  and.  * 

*  Professor  Henry  Morley  has  translated  the  Saxon  poem  commemorating 
the  light  at  Brunanburgh,  extracts  of  which  are  given  here  : 

"  This  year  King  Athelstan,  the  lord  of  earls, 

Ring-giver  to  the  warriors,  Edmund,  too, 

His  brother,  won  in  fight  with  edge  of  swords 

Life-long  renown  at  Brunanburgh.     The  sons 

Of  Edward  clave  with  the  forged  steel  the  wall 

Of  linden  shields.     The  spirit  of  their  sires 

Made  them  defenders  of  the  land,  its  wealth, 

Its  homes,  in  many  a  fight  with  many  a  foe. 

Low  lay  the  Scottish  foes,  and  death-doomed  fell 

The  shipmen;  the  field  streamed  with  warriors'  blood, 

"When  rose  at  morning  tide  the  glorious  star, 

The  suu,  God's  shining  candle,  until  sank 

The  noble  creature  to  its  setting.     There 

Lay  many  a  northern  warrior,  struck  with  darts 

Shot  from  above  the  shield,  and  scattered  wide ; 

As  fled  the  Scots,  weary  and  sick  of  war, 

Forth  followed  the  "West  Saxons.  .  .  . 

"Then  in  their  mailed  ships  on  the  stormy  seas 
The  Northmen  went,  the  leavings  of  red  darts, 
Through  the  deep  water  Dublin  once  again 
Ireland  to  seek,  abased.     Fame-bearing  went 
Meanwhile  to  their  own  land,  "West  Saxon's  land, 
The  brothers,  king  and  Atheling.     They  left 
The  carcasses  behind  them,  to  be  shared 
By  livid  kite,  swart  raven,  horny-beaked, 
And  the  white  eagle  of  the  goodly  plumes, 
The  greedy  war-hawk,  and  gray  forest  wolf, 
Who  ate  the  carrion." 


Tin:   Kn«;i.isii   and  tiii:  Xohtiimi  \.  07 

The  hero  of  Brunanburgh  survived  the  victory  Bcarcely 
three  years,  his  brother,  Edmnnd  the  Magnificent,  succeed- 
ing at  his  death  in  940.  Athelstan'a  was  a  notable  reign. 
Ir  cemented  the  parts  of  England  into  more  perfect  union, 
and  it  brought  the   royal   family  into  new  relations  with  the 

O  WW 

outer  world.  Hugh  Capet,  the  founder  of  a  long  line  of 
French  kings,  was  the  son  of  one  of  Athelstan'a  sisters,  and 
I  I  tto  the  Great,  Emperor  of  Germany  (the  Holy  Roman  Em- 
pire), was  the  husband  of  another.  To  Bhow  his  own  inde- 
pendence of  the  empire,  which  then  claimed  Bovereigntj 
r  Western  Europe,  the  king  called  himself  emperor  [im- 
perator)  of  Britain — a  title  much  admired  and  used  by  his 
descendants.  This  "emperor"  had  been  Alfred's  favorite 
grandchild,  and  in  him  was  some  of  his  grandsire's  wis- 
dom. It  was  made  easier  for  the  yeoman  to  obtain  justice 
in  the  law-courts,  and  provision  was  made  to  relieve  the 
wants  of  the  poor.  "  Frith  guilds,"  *  or  peace  clubs,  grew  up 
among  the  people. 

Edmund  (940—946),  the  new  king,  was  called  "doer  of 
mighty  deeds,"  but  what  he  did  he  did  speedily.  Only 
eighteen  years  old  at  hi<  coronation,  he  Boon  lost  his  hold 
upon  Northumbria,  but  before  his  death,  at  the  age  of  twenty- 
five,  he  was  again  its  master,  and  had  inspired  the  restless 
Britaina  <>f  Cumbria  and  Strathclyde  with  wholesome  fear. 
A-  he  sat  feasting  in  his  hall  on  St.  Augustine's  day  Leofa, 
an  outlaw,  entered  and  sat  himself  insolently  at  the  table  of 
the  king.     In  the  affray  that  followed  Leofa  killed  the  king. 

Edred,    Edmund's  brother,   ruled    the    island    nine   years 

as  "king  of  the  Anglo-Saxons  and  Caasar  of  all 

Britain."     In  his  day  the  Northumbrian   Danea  made  their 

final   stand   under  Erio,  a  prince  of  the  Northmen.     Their 

at   marks   the  end   of  a  kingdom   once   the  leader  of 

*  •  'in   Hworo  to  help  1  ill   all   cases  of 

violence  and  fraud,  benefit  clubs,  and 
burial  clubs." — .  ..  Alfred  .J  Church. 


68  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

Britain.      Their  rulers  henceforth  were   earls  or  aldermen, 
instead  of  the  under-kings  who  had  maintained  a  semi-inde- 
pendence of  the  monarchs  of  the  house  of  Cerdic.     It  was 
the   mind   of   Dunstan,   a  Glastonbury  monk,   that  guided 
Edred  in  the  policy  by  which  he  claimed  that  lofty  title  of 
Csesar.     This  young  man  had  been  driven  from  King  Athel- 
stan's  court  by  the  nobles  jealous  of  his  learning,  his  ability, 
and  his  graceful  manner.      Had  he  been  of  Cerdic's  royal 
line  he  might  have  become  a  second  Alfred;  as  it  is  he  must 
be  remembered  as  the  first  great  prime  minister  of  England 
— the  forerunner  of  Lanfranc,   Wolsey,  Thomas  Cromwell, 
Pitt,  Peel,  and  Gladstone.     The  brilliant  youth  of  Athelstan's 
court,  the  rising  Glastonbury  abbot  of  Edmund's  later  days, 
was  the  leading  statesman  of  Edred's  reign  and  a  bold  figure 
in  the  history  of  the  two  succeeding  monarchs,  Edwy  and 
Edgar  the  Peaceful.     In  his  early  convent  life  young  Dun- 
stan had  cultivated  the  powers  of  head,  heart,  and  hand, 
studying  the  Greek  and  Roman  literature,  practicing  benev- 
olence among  the  poor,  and  gaining  skill  in  music,  painting, 
and  the  handicrafts.     A  smith's  forge  formed  part  of  the 
furniture  of  the  cell  which  his  own  hand  had  built  for  him- 
self at  Glastonbury,  and  here,  said  the  legend,  St.  Dunstan 
with  red-hot  tongs  discomfited  the  tempter  who  intruded  his 
worldly  nose  upon  the  good  man's  meditations. 

It  was  probably  the  wise  counsel  of  Dunstan  that  arranged 
the  solemn  coronation  of  Edred.  The  two  archbishops,  Can- 
terbury and  York,  representing  the  united  Church  of  England, 
jointly  placed  the  crown  on  Edred's  head,  and  men  from  all 
the  island  races — British,  English,  Danes — shouted  applause. 
The  same  purpose,  the  unification  of  England  under  a  single 
king,  dictated  the  reduction  of  the  Northumbrian  kingdom 
to  an  earldom.  His  interference  with  the  marriage  of  the 
youthful  King  Edwy  (955-959),  and  his  sympathy  with  the 
monks  in  the  controversy  then  raging  between  the  priests  of 
the  monasteries  and  the  "  secular  "  or  parish  priests,  led  to 


The  English  and  the  Northmen.  60 

the  busy  abbot's  banishment.  But  the  king's  triumph  was 
short-lived.  The  northern  earldom  revolted,  and  crowning 
his  brother,  Edgar,  placed  him  on  Edwy's  tln-onc  (959). 

Dunstan  came  in  again  on  the  high  tide  of  the  reve- 
lation, took  his  old  place  at  the  head  of  the  council,  and 
was  raised  to  the  archbishopric  of  Canterbury.  His  rule, 
for  he  ruled,  though  Edgar's  head  hore  the  golden  circlet, 
was  a  long  stride  toward  Pmglish  unity.  The  conquered 
Danes  were  treated  like  Englishmen,  and  their  hest  men 
held  high  rank  in  Church  and  State,  however  much  the  Sax- 
on-- growled  at  the  primate's  "preference  for  upstart  aliens." 
A  royal  navy,  built  and  manned  by  the  sons  of  the  vikings, 
guarded  the  English  coasts  and  protected  English  commerce 
in  the  Channel;  for  England  now  had  a  commerce,  and  a 
lively  trade  sprang  up  between  London  and  the  French  and 
Flemish  cities,  the  English  metals  and  farm  products  finding 
ready  exchange  for  the  line  cloths  and  manufactures  of  the 
continental  towns.  This  intercourse  with  Europe  bore  fruit 
in  the  Church  also,  and  many  Benedictine  monasteries,  pat- 
terned upon  those  abroad,  were  founded  in  England.  These 
were  communities  of  monks,  men  who,  cutoff  from  the  world 
liv  their  vows  of  poverfy,  chastity,  and  benevolence,  devoted 
themselves  to  the  works  of  the  Church.  The  monasteries 
owned  wide  tracts  of  land,  whose  tillage  brought  vast  wealth. 
These  were  conservatories  of  learning,  art,  and  science. 
The    monks    were   the   only  scholars,  and   their  libraries  ami 

schools  were  tin-  only  sources  of  learning.  In  after  centu- 
ries their  spiritual  and  intellectual  eminence  declined  ami  left 
them  rich  though  worldly,  powerful  though  corrupt.  In  the 
course  of  the  Reformation  in  the  sixteenth  century  they  were 
swept  out  of  existence,  but  it  musl  Dot  be  forgotten  that 
tiny  had  their  full  and  splendid  -haiv  in  the  making  of 
I     gland. 

Lrrels  between  the  favored  monks  and   the   neglected 
secular  clergy  were  the  chief  disturbancei  of  Edgar's  peace- 


70  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

ful  reign.  The  island  was  tranquil.  The  Welshmen  paid 
yearly  tribute  of  three  hundred  wolfs'  heads,  so  says 
an  old  story,  until  the  supply  failed.  An  eight-oared 
crew  of  vassal  kings,  says  another  boasting  Saxon, 
manned  the  barge  which  King  Edgar  steered  from  his  palace 
at  Chester,  on  the  river  Dee,  to  the  Church  of  St.  John. 
The  death  of  this  "British  emperor,"  in  975,  plunged  the 
prosperous  realm  into  a  wretched  strife.  Two  princes, 
not  yet  in  their  teens,  were  the  only  heirs.  Edward  the 
Martyr,  Dunstan's  candidate,  was  finally  chosen,  but  in  his 
sixteenth  year  his  step-mother,  Elf  rida,  had  him  murdered  to 
make  way  for  her  child  Ethelred  (979-1016).  The  little 
prince,  boy-like,  wept  at  the  news  of  his  brother's  fate,  and 
his  heartless  mother  beat  him  soundly  for  his  tenderness. 
When  the  little  fellow  grew  up,  and  put  on  the  crown  so  foully 
won,  he  showed  himself  no  better  than  his  mother.  Ethelred 
(of  noble  counsel)  she  had  named  him,  but  his  wretched 
subjects  gave  him  a  name  that  better  suited — the  Unready 
(unwise  or  uncounseled),  a  title  of  ignobility.  Other  men 
than  Dunstan  (who  died  988)  directed  the  government  for 
the  boy — though  there  was  need  of  the  highest  wisdom. 
Since  Brunanburgh  the  Northmen  had*lef  t  troubling  England, 
and  had  built  up  their  three  kingdoms  of  Norway,  Sweden, 
and  Denmark ;  but  as  the  end  of  the  tenth  century  drew 
nigh,  their  fleets  again  crossed  the  shallow  German  Ocean, 
bent  on  adding  England  to  their  Scandinavian  Empire.  The 
"  redeless  "  Ethelred,  lacking  the  spirit  of  his  ancestors  who 
had  vanquished  the  same  foes,  levied  a  tax,  the  hated  Dane- 
geld  (Dane's-moncy),  upon  his  people  to  buy  immunity. 
This  led  to  fresh  incursions.  Though  the  king  was  cowardly 
his  people  were  not.  No  royal  army  opposed  the  invasion, 
but  brave  Englishmen,  aldermen  and  commoners,  even 
bishops,  fought  in  defense  of  their  own  homes.  Lack  of 
union  made  the  resistance  futile.  The  more  the  king  paid 
for  peace  the  more  peace  he  had  to  buy.     Thirteen  times  in 


'I'm:  English  and  telb  Nobthmex.  71 

hteen  years  parties  of  Northmen  ravaged  portions  of  the 
land,  rendered  helpless  by  taxation  and  pillage.  On  the 
thirteenth  of  November,  1002,  the  weak  and  cruel  king  gave 
the  signal  for  the  massacre  of  all  the  Danes  in  England. 
Among  the  victims  was  Chriemhild,  a  sister  of  Sweyn  (Swegen 
or  Svend  Fork-Beard),  king  of  Denmark  and  Norway.  At 
the  news  of  the  massacre,  since  known  as  the  "Danish  ves- 
pers," be  gathered  the  largest  armament  that  had  yet  in- 
vaded England.  Ethelred  turned  for  aid  t<>  the  Norman- 
French  across  the  Channel,  and  married  Emma,  the  daughter 
of  I  take  Richard  II.  of  Normandy.  Hut  he  gol  no  real  assist- 
ance.  Sweyn  took  terrible  vengeance  f or  Chriemhild's  blood, 
and  though  Ethelred  paid  him  nearly  a  half-million  dollars 
to  quit  the  island  he  sent  his  lieutenants  to  kill  and  hum  the 
more.  In  1013  Sweyn  came  again,  ami  Ethelred,  his  author- 
ity limited  to  his  native  Wessex,  found  even  that  little  king- 
dom unsafe,  lie  tied  to  his  wife's  relatives  in  Normandy. 
The  new-  of  Sweyn's  death,  in  which  Englishmen  saw  a  ju-t 
retribution  for  sacrilege  againsl  St.  Edmund's  shrine,  re- 
called the  worthless  Saxon  king.  His  son  Edmund  II., 
called  Ironside— a  name  of  even  higher  distinction  in  a 
later  period — rallied  the  English  against  Canute  (also  spelled 

Cnut),   the   son   of   Sweyn.      The  strife   continued   for  a   few 

months  after  the  death  of  the  Unready,  Edmund  at  Lon- 
don and  Canute  at  Southampton  dividing  the  realm. 
The  death  of  the  Ironside  in  the  same  year  left  no  strong 
ii  of  Cerdio's  Btock,  and  from  L017  to  1035  Canute  was 
the  -oh-  kin^r  of  England. 

bang  ( 'aiiute  was  a  Dane  of  royal  race,  himself  the  ruler 

•THE    DANISH    K.rNfi.S    Ui 

BW1  i  '.I  m  FOBKBEABD. 

.1.  i 
I 
CANUTE  (I  ■       uindy, 

wld(  iivi. 


UARMI   \'.i   i  I.  ill  wan 
...  HAROLD  I.,  r.  km..  , 

r.  lUfr  10W. 


72  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

of  Denmark,  Norway,  and  half  Sweden,  but  he  showed  the 
breadth  of  his  mind  by  his  policy  in  governing  England.  His 
aim  was  to  be  an  English  king  in  the  eyes  of  his  subjects, 
and  to  this  end  no  distinction  was  made  between  the  Dane 
and  English  in  the  land.  The  king  enriched  and  strength- 
ened the  Church,  although  it  had  been  the  center  of  the  na- 
tional resistance  to  him  and  his  father,  and  he  honored 
Edmund,  the  martyr-king,  by  dedicating  to  his  memory  the 
shrine  of  St.  Edmundsbury.  "  The  laws  of  Edgar,"  as  the 
people  called  the  system  of  government  which  Dunstan  had 
established  in  the  reign  of  that  good  king,  were  restored  and 
administered  justly.  For  better  government,  he  divided  the 
English  realm  into  four  earldoms  :  Wessex,  Mercia,  East 
Anglia,  and  Northumberland,  their  lords  or  earls  being  the 
most  powerful  men  in  the  kingdom.  Curious  legends  cluster 
about  Canute's  name.  It  is  said  that  on  one  occasion  his 
nattering  courtiers,  extolling  his  power,  told  him  that  even 
the  tide  of  the  ocean  would  obey  his  will.  The  king  accord- 
ingly caused  his  throne  to  be  placed  on  the  sands,  and  there, 
arrayed  in  his  royal  robes  with  his  flatterers,  awaited  the 
flood.  Stretching  forth  his  scepter,  he  bade  the  waters 
stay  their  progress.  The  result  is  not  difficult  to  imagine 
— king  and  courtiers  hastily  regained  dry  land,  having 
learned  a  lesson  in  the  limits  of  human  authority.  From 
that  day  forward  the  crown  that  he  had  worn  was  placed 
on  the  image  of  the  crucified  Christ. 

Canute,  who  began  his  reign  amid  hatred  and  horror, 
died  (1035),  beloved  and  reverenced.  Two  sons,  Harold  and 
Hardieanute  (Harthacnut),  divided  the  empire.  For  two 
years  there  was  strife  in  England,  but  in  1037  the  former 
united  England  under  his  rule,  his  brother  remaining  in  Den- 
mark as  ruler  of  his  father's  continental  inheritance.  While 
the  crown  was  weakened  by  this  discord  the  earldoms  gained 
in  power.  The  earl  of  Northumberland  was  Siward,  whose 
fame  has  gathered  interest  from  Shakespeare's  play  of  Mac- 


Tin:  English  am>   im:  Northmbx.  7- 

l» tli.     Karl  Leofric,  of  Mercia,  was  the  stern  husband  whose 

lady    Godiva    rode   through    Coventry   streets   one    famous 

ii'Mni-«lay,  wlu'ii 

"  She  took  the  t;t\  away 
Ami  built  heraetf  an  everlasting  name." 

Godwin,  the  stout  carl  of  Wessex,  needs  no  poel  to  tell 
of  his  Lasting  renown;  his  own  keen  mind  and  sword  have 
carved  him  a  place  in  English  history.  Karl  Godwin,  an  En- 
glishman, whose  marriage  allied  him  with  the  royal  family  of 
Denmark,  Berved  Canute  faithfully  in  his  life,  and  is  a  chief 

actor    in    the    multitudinous    events    which    crowd    the   stage 

from  this  time  forward  to  the  Norman   conquest.     As   the 

first  minister  or  "justiciar,"  he  had  carried  out  the  will  of 
Canute  and  his  son,  llardicauute,  who  ruled  the    island  for  a 

few  years  (1040-1042)  after  Harold's  death.  There  is  a  story, 
oft  denied  and  as  frequently  re-asserted,  which  accuses  God- 
win of  betraying  to  the  cruel  Harold  Ethelred's  youngest 

BOH  Alfred,  who  came  to  England  in  the  troublous  time  which 
followed   Canute's   death,  and    SOUghl  at    least    a  share  in    the 

kingdom  of  his  father.  ETardicanute,  a  drunken  and  blood- 
thirsty Northman,  died  miserably  at  Lambeth,  near  London, 
in  1042.  Magnus,  king  of  Norway,  succeeded  to  his  posses- 
Bions  in  Denmark,  bul  Godwin  restored  the  English  powerto 
the  exiled  heir  of  ( !erdic— Edward,  the  son  of  thai  Ethelred 
from  whose  unsteady  hand  the  rough  Danes  had  wrested  the 
scepter.  This  Edward  had  the  weakness,  bul  not  the  wicked- 
ness, '•)'  Ethelred.  1 1 i ^  counselors  ruled  him,  and  their  quar- 
rels disturbed  the  reign  and  led  to  the  third  and  -for  eight 
hundred  years— the  last  conquesl  of  England  1>\  foreigners. 
Two  parties  contended  for  the  supremacy  in  Edward's  conn- 
ed-. The  king  himself,  though  born  of  an  English  father, 
had  been  brought  up  in  Normandy-  a  duchj  on  the  French 
side  of  the  English  Channel,  of  which  we  shall  hear  much 
daring  the  next  two  centuries.  1 1<  spoke  the  Norman-French 
language,  and  brought  with  him  to  England  a  throng  of  Nor* 
t 


74  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

man  courtiers,  whom  he  honored  with  the  highest  places  in 
his  gift.  The  immense  influence  of  the  English  Church  was 
handed  over  to  the  new-comers,  in  the  person  of  a  Robert  of 
Jumieges,  a  Norman  monk,  who  exerted  a  strong  man's 
power  over  the  gentle  king. 

It  was  natural  that  Godwin,*  a  born  leader,  should  head  the 
party  which  cried,  "England  for  Englishmen!"  For  a 
time  the  earl  maintained  his  place  near  the  king,  and  his  talents 
might  have  kept  him  there  and  curbed  the  Norman  spirit 
had  not  his  own  ambition  wrought  his  ruin.  He  used  his  of- 
fice for  his  own  aggrandizement.  His  daughter  Edith  was 
queen  to  the  fair-haired  Edward;  two  of  his  sons  and  his 
nephew  ruled  as  earls  a  large  share  of  the  island.  Godwin 
and  the  English  cause  were  in  the  ascendant,  but  the  Norman 
courtiers  poisoned  the  ear  of  the  king  against  the  great  earl — 
told  Edward  that  Godwin  had  sold  Prince  Alfred  into  Har- 
old's murderous  clutches.  Some  West  Saxons  insulted  a 
Norman  count  who  had  wedded  the  king's  sister,  and  God- 
win refused  to  punish  the  offenders  without  legal  trial.  Two 
jealous  English  earls,  Godiva's  Leofric  and  Shakespeare's 
Siward,  joined  forces  with  Edward  and  drove  the  English 
champion  and  his  sons  into  exile  (1051).  For  a  year  the 
Norman  party  triumphed.  William,  the  duke  of  Normandy, 
visited  the  king  at  this  time,  and  afterward  swore  that  Ed- 
ward promised  that  he  should  succeed  to  the  English  throne, 
though  what  right  the  monarch  had  to  make  such  promises 
does  not  appear.  In  1052  the  English  had  so  sickened  of 
their  Norman  masters  that  they  hailed  with  joy  the  return  of 
the  old  earl  and  his  son  Harold.  Godwin  took  oath  that  he 
was  guiltless  of  Alfred's  blood.     The  king  received  him  into 

•THE    HOUSE    OP    GODWIN. 

Godwin. 

I 


I  I  I 

EDWARD.         -      Edith.  HAROLD  II.,  Tostig. 

'  THE  CONFKSSOR,"  d.  1006. 

d.  1066. 


Tin:    E\<;i  mi    am>  Tin:   NoBTHMBN. 


favor,  and  the  French  counts,  abbots,  and  bishops  were 
packed  <>ff  whence  they  came.  Even  the  lordly  Archbishop 
Robert  of  ( Canterbury  took  hasty  have,  and  a  Saxon,  Stigand, 
became  primate  of  the  English  Church.  The  nexl  year  was 
marked  by  Grodwin's  death,  hut  not  a  Frenchman  dared  come 
back,  for  Harold,  the  true  son  of  his  father,  succeeded  to  the 
earldom  of  Wessex  and  the  real  direction  of  royal  affairs. 

He  exhibited  the  statesmanship  of  his  father  and  a  military 
talent  of  his  own.  While  Edward  was  busy  with  his  chap- 
lains founding  churches  and  monasteries — the  abbey  of 
Westminster  among  them — Harold  fortified  his  own  posi- 
tion by  giving  earldoms  to  his  brothers  and  leading  the 
English  armies  to  successful  war  against  the  Welsh.  That  he 
was  clearly  the  first  man  in  England  did  not  escape  Duke 
William,  who  kept  keen  watch  from  his  neighboring  Nor- 
mandy. In  1064  Earl  Harold,  with  his  vessel,  was  cast  by 
mischance  u\«<u  the  French  coasl  and  became  William's 
enforced  guest.  At  a  convenient  season,  two  years  later, 
William  declared  that  Harold  had  then  owned  him  lord  and 
sworn  to  Bupporl  his  claim  to  the  crown  at  Edward's  death. 
They  say  that  the  duke  outwitted  the  earl  by  smuer&rlins 
sacred  relics  under  the  table  on  which  the  oath  was  taken, 
increasing  the  sanctity  of  the  agre<  ment. 

E>1  wan  1  died  in  L066.  The  priests,  his  friends,  «  ere  also  his 
histoi -Km-,  and  by  their  grace  he  is  called  "  St.  Edward  "  and 
••  Edward  the  <  Jonfessor.*'  There  \\  as  do  son  to  succeed  him. 
< )f  the  direct  line  of  ( lerdic  only  Edgar,  a  st ripling,  and  Mar- 
garet, a  girl, survived.  William  of  Normandy,  assoon  as  he 
he. ii« I  of  the  Coni'  ssor's  death,  pu1  in  his  claim  by  right  <>f  his 
wife  Matilda's  inheritance,  by  Edward's  promise,  and  Harold's 
extorted  oath.  Bui  Harold  alone  was  able  and  al  hand.  The 
dying  kiir_r  seemed  to  designate  him  for  the  throne,  though  he 
bespoke  for  him  a  short  and  disastrous  reign.  The  wise  men 
(witan)  elected  the  most  available  candidal'  Grodwin's  son, 
Earl  Harold,  already  actual  ruler  and  general  of  the  army, 


76  An  Outlike  History  of  England. 

King  Harold's  reign  fulfilled  St.  Edward's  direst  prophe- 
cies. Two  mighty  foes  gathered  to  crush  him.  His  own 
brother,  Tostig,  then  in  disgrace,  leagued  with  the  king  of 
Norway,  the  famous  Harold  Hardrada,  whose  spirit  had  led 
him  from  boyhood  upon  the  wildest  adventures,  for  the  con- 
quest of  England.  The  Norwegian  fleet,  swollen  by  acces- 
sions from  Ireland  and  Scotland,  sailed  up  the  Humber,  and 
landed  not  far  from  York.  At  Stamford  Bridge  the  English 
Harold  gave  them  battle,  first  offering  his  Norse  namesake, 
who  demanded  his  kingdom,  seven  feet  of  English  soil  for  a 
grave.  The  English  won,  and  both  Tostig  and  his  giant 
ally  gained  only  earth  enough  to  bury  them. 

But  the  worst  foe  was  still  unconquered.  William  of 
Normandy,  claiming  the  throne  as  heir,  demanding  the  pun- 
ishment of  Harold  as  a  perjurer,  urging  the  Normans  to 
avenge  Godwin's  insults  toward  Archbishop  Robert  and  his 
followers,  and  possessing  Pope  Alexander's  blessing  as  a 
missionary  to  the  corrupted  English  Church — uniting  all 
parties  by  these  specious  claims — had  gathered  an  army  and 
crossed  to  Pevensey  on  the  south  coast.  King  Harold  hasted 
from  Stamford  to  meet  the  invader.  William's  army,  a 
motley  array  of  fortune-seekers  picked  up  from  all  France 
and  half  Europe,  attacked  the  English  position  on  Senlac 
hill,  near  Hastings.  The  momentous  battle,  which  took 
place  October  14,  1066,  is  known  in  history  under  both 
names.  Much  was  against  the  Normans.  Their  leader  had 
encouraged  them  with  the  pope's  blessing,  but  on  landing  he 
had  stumbled  and  fallen  on  his  face.  Rising,  his  hands  full 
of  sand,  he  cried  to  his  horrified  attendants,  "  See  !  by  the 
splendor  of  God,  the  English  soil  is  already  in  my  grasp." 
In  the  desperate  charges  upon  the  English  yeomen  his  cour- 
age, audacity,  and  constancy  were  every- where  apparent. 
"The  duke  is  dead,"  cried  a  hard-pressed  battalion.  "I 
live  ! "  cried  William,  lifting  the  visor  of  his  helmet,  "  and 
by  God's  help   I  will  conquer."     Conquer  he  did.     Harold 


'I'm:  English  and  the  Nobthmkk.  V< 

and  hi<  body-guard  stood  by  the  golden  dragon  banner  of 
Wessez  all  dav  loner,  until  near  sunset  a  shaft  from  a  French- 
man's  bow  blinded  the  king,  and  he  fell.     His  English  died 

around  him,  and  that  night  William,  the  Norman  duke,  who 
ate  and  drank  and   Blept   on   the   field   among   the   slain,    was 

the  real  master  of  England. 

Still  he  was  not  king.  The  witan  set  up  young  Edgar, 
Bon  of  Edmund  Ironside,  hut  there  was  no  iron  in  his  com- 
position, and  lie  and  his  English  adherents  soon  begged  Will- 
iam to  take  the  crown,  not  as  conqueror,  hut  as  the  rightful 
successor.  On  Christmas  day,  1066,  the  archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury set  the  crown  apon  the  head  of  William  the  Conqueror. 

Harold's  death  <-1ov,.n  the  second  period  of  English  his- 
tory :  William'-  coronation  marks  the  opening  of  a  third  and 
grander  era  in  the  development  of  a  great  nation. 


78  An  Outline  History  of  England. 


CHAPTER  V. 

THE  NORMAN  CONQUERORS.     1066  A.  D.-1135  A.  D. 

FROM    THE    ACCESSION    OP     WILLIAM    I.    TO    THE    DEATH    OP    HENRY    I. 

"Norman"  is  "Northman,"  and  the  Norman  subjects  of 
Duke  William  were  Scandinavians  closely  akin  to  the  Danes 
who  settled  in  England.  Rollo,  a  Norwegian  viking,  was 
the  first  duke  of  Normandy.  His  piratical  ravages  upon  the 
banks  of  the  Seine  forced  Charles  the  Simple,  king  of  the 
French,  to  grant  to  him  the  lands  about  the  mouth  of  the 
river  (912).  In  return  for  this  territory  Rollo  gave  up  his 
wild  life,  acknowledged  the  sovereignty  of  Charles,  wedded 
a  princess,  and  settled  down  to  enlarge  the  province  he  had 
secured.  His  people  soon  adopted  the  religion,  manners,  and 
language  of  the  country,  and  became  Frenchmen,  differing 
from  their  Frankish  fellow-countrymen  chiefly  in  physical 
superiority  and  a  mnsterful  quality  of  mind.  Under  Rollo's 
descendants  the  Normandy  was  one  of  the  most  powerful  of 
the  several  dukedoms  which  made  up  the  French  kingdom. 

William,  who  succeeded  to  the  ducal  coronet  in  1035, 
was  the  seventh  ruler  in  direct  line  from  Duke  Rollo,  the 
viking.  Before  his  name  was  linked  with  English  affairs  his 
government  of  his  inheritance  had  distinguished  him  as 
William  the  Great.  A  boy  with  twice  a  man's  spirit,  he 
had  crowded  his  way  through  many  obstructions  to  the  chief 
place  among  the  vassals  of  France.  Normandy,  a  prey  to 
the  French  feudalisms  which  divided  power  among  nobles 
who  waged  against  each  other  continual  private  war,  was  ham- 
mered into  comparative  order  and  tranquillity  by  this  iron 
duke.     His  indomitable  will  and  political  sagacity  fitted  this 


The  Normah  Conqi  bbobs. 


ro 


DUKES    OF    THE    NORMANS. 


BOLF,  or  EtOLLO, 

1st  Duko  of  the  Normans, 
reigned  '.ui  927. 


W1I.I.IAM 

l  0NG8W0RD, 

r.  887  948. 

I 
RICHARD 

TIIK  PKARLE88, 
r.  943  996. 


RN'llAlM) 
TIIK  ROOD, 

r.  996  ioae. 


Emma, 
m,  l.  Ethelred  II.  of 
England. 
m.  2.  Canuti  nf  England 

mxl  Denmark. 


HIC1IAIM)  MI.. 

r.  1088  : 


ROBERT 

TIIK  MAGNIFICENT, 

r.  1088  1085. 


WILLIAM 

THl   CONQCI  ROR, 

r.  iav>  l"*T. 


ROBERT  II., 

r.  1087  1098 

(from  1098  to  1100 

Duchy  bold 

William'. 

and  1100  1106 

(wtvn  h> 

overthrown 

by 

Beorj). 


WILLIAM 

ItlH  8, 


HENRY  I. 
r.  1106  1185. 


Matilda, 
m.  GEOFFREY, 

"  PLANTAGI  NM." 

I '■mill  uf  Alijt'U 

mnl    Mniii, 

(who  won  iii«'  Duchy 
from  Btepben,  1 1 15). 

HENRY  II. 

Invested  with  the 

Duchy  1150, 

.1.  1189. 

I 


Adela, 

m.  Str/iltm. 
Count  of  Btoia 

mill  ( 'limit  i  >. 

I 

STEPHEN. 

01   BLOI8, 

r.  1185  1154, 


HUH  \i:i> 

TIIK  I  WN-III  Ml, 

r.  ll^'i  1199. 


Norman  dul  tin  capitals. 

Eofruat)  Mnjni  underlined. 


JOHN, 
r.  1199  1904 
(when  Normandy  waa  conquered 
by  France), 


80  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

man  of  all  men  to  undertake  with  a  few  raw  troops  the  con- 
quest and  government  of  England. 

The  battle  of  Hastings  did  not  complete  the  conquest, 
neither  did  the  surrender  of  Edgar  and  the  coronation  of 
William  firmly  establish  the  Norman  system.  Yet  the  king 
dared  to  quit  his  new-found  kingdom,  and  hasten  over  to 
Normandy,  where  the  Duchess  Matilda  ruled  the  barons  as 
regent.  To  his  brother  Odo,  bishop  of  Bayeux,  and  his 
friend,  William  Fitz-Osbern,  he  intrusted  England  in  his 
absence.  The  king's  plan  was  to  treat  the  English  as  his 
legal  subjects,  not  as  a  conquered  people.  By  his  assertion 
he  was  the  true  successor  of  Edward,  Harold  being  a  usurp- 
ing rebel.  By  the  same  reasoning  Harold's  followers  were 
traitors  to  their  rightful  king,  and  their  possessions  were 
forfeited  to  the  crown.  These  lands  and  houses  William 
granted  to  the  Normans,  who  had  embarked  their  lives  and 
fortunes  in  his  expedition,  and  thus  were  founded  those  En- 
glish families  who  boast  that  "  they  came  in  with  the  Con- 
queror." Odo  and  Fitz-Osbern  lacked  William's  broader 
views,  and  no  sooner  was  his  back  turned  than  they  began 
to  persecute  the  unhappy  English  for  their  own  advantage. 
Money,  lands,  and  houses  were  wrung  from  the  Avealthy 
without  distinction  of  guilt  or  innocence.  Such  tyranny 
aroused  the  spirit  of  resistance.  Only  a  fragment  of  England 
had  followed  Harold  at  Hastings.  The  people  of  the  north- 
ern earldoms  cared  little  if  a  Norman  should  take  from  the 
earl  of  Wessex  the  crown  which  his  ambition  had  acquired. 
The  nation  felt  no  real  attachment  for  Harold  as  it  did  for 
Ethelred's  children,  Edgar  and  Margaret,  now  the  wife  of 
Malcolm,  king  of  Scots.  But  the  new  tyrannies  touched  the 
life  of  the  people.  Every  Englishman  of  wealth  or  high  po- 
sition suffered  or  was  liable  to  suffer  at  the  hands  of  the 
Normans.  The  signal  of  revolt  went  through  the  island. 
Mercia  and  Northumbria  rose  under  Earls  Edwin  and  Morcar, 
relying   upon  the  promised  aid  of  Sweyn  Avith  a  fleet  and 


Thk   Xokm.vn   Conqubbobs.  8] 

army  «>f  Danes.  The  Scottish  Malcolm  added  his  Bupport  to 
the  movement  in  the  north.  The  western  rebels  found  allies 
in  the  Welsh.  Inthe  eastern  fen-lands,  upon  the  borders  of  the 
Norman  territory,  the  outlaw  Ileivward,  "the  last,  of  the 
English,"  held  Ely  with  desperate  valor.  William  returned 
to  face  these  Berried  dangers.  The  Danes,  the  main-stay  of 
the  insurrection,  he  bribed  into  inaction.     Isolating  the  other 

center-  of  rebellion,  lie  attacked  them  in  turn,  and  in  a  series 
of  campaigns  comprising  nearly  four  years  (1068—1071)  he 
crushed  the  rebels  Bingly.  Edwin,  Morcar,  and  Hereward 
died  or  yielded.  King  Malcolm  did  homage  for  his  crown, 
and  all  the  bland,  Bave  the  wesl  and  Wales  was  pacified. 
The  expense  of  blood  and  treasure  was  terrible,  hut  the  con- 
quer w  a-  thorough.  In  tin-  north,  whose  subjection]  even  to 
Harold  and  the  predecessors  of  Edward, had  been  hut  partial, 
the  harshesl  means  were  used.  Thousands  of  Northumbrians 
were  slain,  and  their  land  was  ravaged  until  it  became  a 
dreary  and  almost  uninhabited  waste. 

The  English  were  now  crushed  beyond  the  possibility  of 
resistance.  Their  leaders  were  dead  or  in  Norman  dungeons, 
and  their  spirit  was  broken  to  the  Conqueror's  will.  Peace 
reigned  throughout  the  kingdom.  The  soldier-duke  whose 
sword  had  accomplished  it  now  came  forward  ami  as  the 
Btatesman-king  reorganized  the  government  of  the  land 
which  he  had  won.  Inasmuch  as  his  reforms  in  the  English 
•>iii  wire  based  upon  the  Norman  constitution,  we  musl 
review  both  of  the  older  governments  in  order  t<>  gain  dear 
understanding  of  t  he  new. 

Some  features  of  the  English  governmental  organization 
have  already  been  explained.  It-  characteristic  was  the  idea 
of  home  rule.  The  fr<e  people  of  a  village  met  together  i" 
settle  for  themselves  all  minor  political  matters  and  to  decide 
suit-  at  law.  The  same  system  was  applied  to  groups  or 
u  bundredi "  of  these  villages ;  and  a  number  of  "  hun- 
dreds'1 formed  the  -hire  or  county,  with  it- -hire  moot,  or 
4* 


82  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

court,  where  representatives  of  the  "  hundreds  "  met  to  hear 
appeals  from  the  lower  courts.  The  officers  of  this  shire 
court  were  the  alderman,  bishop,  and  "  shire-reeve,"  or  sher- 
iff. The  alderman  was  the  representative  of  the  nation,  a 
sort  of  lord-lieutenant  ;  the  reeve  was  the  king's  personal 
officer,  and  the  bishop  attended  to  points  of.  church  law. 
The  judges,  or  rather  the  jurymen,  were  the  freemen  assem- 
bled in  the  court.  If  a  convicted  man  appealed  from  the 
judgment  of  the  hundred-court  to  the  men  of  the  shire  he 
might  take  the  "  ordeal,"  or  judgment  of  God,  proving  his  in- 
nocence by  walking  unshod  over  hot  iron  or  eating  of  poisoned 
cakes.  In  general  the  accused  brought  "  compurgators," 
men  who  swore  to  his  innocence  and  general  character  for 
good.  The  "  compurgators,  "  or  oaths-men,  of  the  plaintiff 
swore  to  the  contrary,  and  the  assembly  of  freemen  com- 
pared the  weight,  not  of  evidence,  but  of  the  two  parties  of 
compurgators.  In  early  times  "  an  earl's  word  balanced  six 
common  churls  [freemen]  and  one  alderman's  testimony  out- 
weighed a  township's  oath."  Punishment  was  commonly  by 
fines,  paid  not  to  the  State,  but  to  the  injured  party.  Above 
the  shires  of  England,  which  were  rudely  yet  not  unwisely 
organized,  was  the  king,  and  to  him  in  his  council  of  great 
men — the  witenagemot — the  man  might  appeal  from  the 
judgment  of  the  lower  court.  The  royal  power  was,  how- 
ever, ill-defined.  Through  many  changes  it  had  grown  to 
its  proportions  under  such  rulers  as  Canute  and  Harold.  These 
later  sovereigns  were  kings  of  England  as  well  as  of  its  people. 
The  public  land — folkland — h:id  come  to  be  considered  the 
property  of  the  monarch,  and  he  might  dispose  of  it  at  will, 
the  witan  assenting.  Those  who  received  land  from  him,  and 
many  who  received  none,  became  his  thanes  or  vassals,  owing 
him  service.  The  greater  thanes  he  summoned  to  his  witena- 
gemot with  the  abbots  and  bishops.  With  this  body  he  made 
laws,  laid  taxes,  deliberated  on  peace  and  war,  and  appointed 
the  officers  of   state.      The  system  of  thaneship   extended 


The   N.'K.ma.v  Coxtquebobs.  83 

throughout  society,  the  Bmaller  land-owners,  and  even  land- 
less freeman,  agreeing  to  do  Berviee  to  an  overlord  or  thane 
in  return  for  his  protection.  Some  of  these  thanes  seem  to 
have  acquired  authority  as  magistrates  t«>  try  law-suits  be- 
tween  their  dependents  or  in  the  towns  ("  burghs"  or  "bor- 
oughs") which  Bprung  up  on  their  lands.  Again;  certain 
towns  had  purchased  from  their  overlord,  or  from  the  king, 
the  right  to  hold  their  own  courts,  subordinate  to  the  shire- 
moot,  but  of  equal  authority  with  the  assembly  of  the  hun- 
dred. To  this  brief  statement  it  should  be  added  that  the 
English  shires  were  allotted  among  four  earldoms — the  four 
powerful  earls  being  chosen  by  king  and  council  from  the  royal 
thanes. 

In  Normandy  the  feudal  system  was  carried  to  its  full  ox- 
tent.  The  king  of  France  was  lord  of  all  the  land,  and  every 
man  who  owned  a  foot  of  soil  rendered  military  service  for 
hi-  6ef  as  vassal  to  a  lord.  The  i\'\v  great  dukes  held  their 
duchies  directly  from  the  king,  and  so  long  as  they  paid  the 
stipulated  services  they  were  supreme  in  their  own  domin- 
ions. These  dominions  were  similarly  divided.  The  duke 
— himself  a  king's  vassal — granted  his  lands  to  barons,  or 
lesser  vassals,  on  similar  terms  of  faithful  Berviee.  The  ten- 
ants of  the  barons  also  did  Berviee  for  the  farms  they  held. 
In  each  case,  from  duke  to  smallest  farmer,  the  same  cere- 
monies and  terms  prevailed.     The  land  held  was  the  "feu- 

dum."  ot  "fief; '"  the  vassal,  or    man,  swore    fealty  (fidelity) 

and  dicl  homage,  placing  his  hare  head  in  his  lord's  hands,  and 
on  bended  knee  vowing  to  become  his  man  through  all  perils. 

Thi-  was  "feudal  tenure,"  and  property 80  held  passed,  with 

the  attendant  obligations  and    privileges,  from  father  to  son. 
In  Prance  'Ids  land   and  social  system  was  a  means  of  gov- 
ernment.    For  with  the  land  the  king  granted  jurisdiction 
r  its  inhabitants,  and  duke  and  baron  each  held  his  own 

manorial  court,  in  which   the  law-Suits  of  his  dependents  were 

tried.     Each  tenanl  of  the  kim.:  contributed  a  certain  num- 


84  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

ber  of  armed  retainers  to  the  royal  army ;  and  these  soldiers 
of  the  dukes  and  barons  were  frequently  employed  in  private 
wars,  one  baron  against  another.  The  whole  system  tended 
away  from  national  unity,  for  the  king  himself,  when  stand- 
ing alone,  had  less  power  than  any  one  of  a  half-dozen  of  his 
proudest  vassals.  It  was  by  feudal  tenure  that  Duke  Will- 
iam held  Normandy  from  the  king  of  France,  and  by  the 
same  system  his  quarrelsome  barons  held  of  him.  We  shall 
see  how  he  and  his  successors  combined  the  Saxon  system 
with  French  feudalism. 

The  English  land-owners  who  fought  on  Harold's  side 
were  declared  guilty  of  treason,  and  their  lands  reverted  to 
the  crown.  The  rebellions  from  1068  to  1071  brought  about 
the  confiscation  of  nearly  all  the  remaining  English  estates 
of  any  magnitude.  With  these  William  founded  his  sys- 
tem— granting  them  as  feudal  manors  to  the  Normans  of  his 
train.  He  did  not  transfer  the  continental  system  to  the 
island  without  changes.  The  semi-independence  of  the  four 
great  English  earldoms  which  he  had  encountered  warned 
him  against  granting  too  extensive  fiefs  to  any  one  man. 
Instead  of  four  earldoms  he  created  nearly  forty — an  earl  to 
a  shire — and  where  he  would  show  especial  honor  he  took 
care  that  the  lands  of  any  one  man  should  be  scattered 
throughout  England.  Warned  likewise  by  the  continual 
wars  of  his  own  barons  in  Normandy,  he  exacted  from  all 
freemen,  at  a  meeting  at  Salisbury  (1086),  the  oath  of  alle- 
giance to  himself  as  sovereign,  thus  making  it  treason  for  any 
to  obey  his  lord  contrary  to  the  king.  William  thus  became 
the  real  head  of  the  English  people,  not  simply  the  feudal 
sovereign  of  a  few  great  barons — "tenants-in-chief."  He 
further  laid  his  hand  upon  the  acts  of  the  people  by  defining 
the  sheriff's  duties,  and  making  him  the  officer  who  attended 
to  the*  king's  fees  and  revenues  in  the  courts.  While  he 
gave  to  the  barons  jurisdiction  over  the  people  of  their 
manors,   it  was  provided  that  appeal  should   run  from  the 


Thk  Normal  Conqi  i  bobs. 

baron  to  the  hundred  court  and  t<>  the  king.  The  old  village 
courts  were  Left  intact,  with  the  added  provision  <>t'  trial  by 
battle  for  Norman  offenders.  In  place  of  the  Saxon  assembly 
of  wise  men  William  gathered  aboul  him  a  Greal  Council  of 
hi»  feudal  barons,  who  superseded  the  English  thanes.  In 
this  also  <at  the  high  officials  of  the  Church,  and  a  com- 
mittee of  this  hotly,  called  the  curia  regis  (court  or  senate 
of  the  king),  acted  as  a  high  court  of  appeals.  The  Anglo- 
Norman  system,  therefore,  was  feudal  in  its  tenure  of  land, 
but  English  in  its  recognition  of  local  self-government. 
Through  it  all  stretched  the  Btrong  arm  of  the  king,  ex- 
acting taxes  from  noble  ami  commoner  alike — all  clag 
alike  doing  him  homage. 

Socially  the  conquest  transformed  England.  At  the  head 
of  society  Btood  the  king  ami  his  Norman  harons — proud  of 
their  possessions  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel,  despising  as 
barbarous  the  common  Englishmen  and  their  Anglo-Saxon 
tongue.  French  was  the  spoken  language  of  the  conquerors, 
though  the  lawyers  and  priests  wrote  a  corrupt  form  "I" 
Latin.  The  English  thanes  disappeared  after  the  early  re- 
bellions, being  slain  or  deprived  of  their  land-,  and  bo  pressed 
down  into  a  lower  BOCial  grade.  The  middle-class  English- 
men, dwellers  in  towns  and  coming  into  frequent  contact 
with  the  foreigners,  soon  met  them  on  equal  terms  in  trade 
and  society.  Thelowesl  class, serfs  and  slaves,  suffered  noth- 
ing by  the  change  of  masters,  and  clung  persistently  to  the 
language  and  manners  of  the  Anglo-Saxons. 

The  Norman  vigor  breathed  the  breath  of  life  into  one  En- 
glish institution.    William  had  been  consecrated  by  the  pope 

the  reformer  of  the  English  Church,  and,  once  master  of 
England,  he  placed  his  charge  in  the  able  hand-  of  Lanfranc, 
i  Norman  abbot,  reputed  to  he  the  most  learned  man  in 
Europe.  Upon  him  William  conferred  the  archbishopric  of 
Canterbury,  to  which  he  subordinated  the  see  of  Fork. 
The   able   Gregory    VII  (Hildebrand),  the  reigning  pontiff 


86  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

at  Rome,  was  determined  to  extend  the  feudal  system  over 
Europe  by  inducing  all  kings  to  do  him  homage  for  their 
kingdoms,  and  own  him  for  their  temporal  as  well  as  spirit- 
ual master.  This  William  swore  he  would  not  do.  Peter- 
pence  he  would  pay,  hut  homage  for  England's  crown  he 
owed  to  no  man,  nor  to  any  would  he  give  it.  He  willingly 
forbade  the  priests  to  marry,  and  allowed  Lanfranc  to  en- 
graft the  strict  rules  of  the  continental  monasteries  upon  the 
lax  religious  establishments  of  England.  Bishops'  courts 
were  set  up  in  each  shire  to  decide  offenses  against  morals 
or  religion.  But  he  ordered  that  without  his  royal  leave 
no  pope  should  be  acknowledged  in  England,  no  papal  bull 
be  read,  no  bishop  appeal  to  Rome,  and  no  royal  tenant  be 
excommunicated.  Thus  William  thwarted  Hildebrand's 
scheme  of  including  England  in  his  universal  empire,  and 
thus  the  trenches  were  dug  for  the  later  foundations  of  an 
English  national  Church  free  from  papal  domination. 

Not  all  of  these  changes  took  place  in  William's  reign,  but 
the  beginnings  of  most  of  them  are  found  there,  though 
their  course  of  development  runs  through  more  than  a 
century.  In  his  own  life-time  the  king  found  much  to  oc- 
cupy his  mind  on  both  sides  of  the  Channel.  The  closing 
decade  of  his  life  hedged  him  in  with  dangers.  The  barons 
of  England  were  galled  by  the  weight  of  his  yoke.  In  Nor- 
mandy they  had  been  almost  independent  of  their  duke,  but 
the  modified  feudalism  of  England  subordinated  them  di- 
rectly to  King  William's  hand.  Appealing  to  the  English- 
men against  the  king's  oppression,  Roger,  son  of- William 
Fitz-Osbern,  and  other  Norman-English  earls  revolted,  but 
the  royal  forces  put  them  down  without  difficulty  (1075-1076). 
The  next  outbreak  was  in  Normandy.  William  had  prom- 
ised that  his  eldest  son,  Robert,  should  have  the  duchy  for 
his  own  in  case  the  English  expedition  were  successful.  But 
King  William  would  not  fulfill  the  promises  of  William,  the 
duke.     "  I  shall  not  strip  till  I  go  to  bed,"  was  his  answer  to 


THK    NOBMAH    Cm\.;I   BBOBS. 

lii>  son's  reminder.  There  were  always  enough  discontented 
barons  t«>  follow  such  a  leader  as  Robert  to  rebellion,  and 
the  war  which  son  declared  upon  father  was  prolonged 
through  three  years  (1077—1080),  when  a  reconcilation  took 
place,  Robert  being  appeased  by  being  named  heir  of  his 
father's  Norman  dominions.  The  king's  worsl  foes  were  those 
of  his  own  household,  the  sons  of  his  old  friends,  and  liis  own 
half-brothers.  One  of  the  latter,  <><lo  of  Bayeux — that  Nor- 
man abbey  whose  pictured  "  tapestry  "  still  shows  the  features 
of  the  Conqueror  and  his  knights — had  been  intrusted  withun- 
u-iial  power.  He  was  bishop  and  earl,  bul  he  was  ambitious 
to  be  pope,  and  would  have  backed  liis  claims  with  an  En- 
glish arm)  had  not  the  king  unhesitatingly  Beized  him,  in 
Bpite  of  "his  sanctity"  as  a  bishop,  and  cast  him  into  a 
dungeon.  Denmark,  which  from  this  time  sinks  below  the 
horizon  of  our  history,  gathered  an  armament  for  the  in- 
vasion of  England  (1085),  bul   it    came  to  nothing,  bribes, 

lies,  and  the  fame  of  William's  power  uniting  to  undo  it. 

It  was  at  aboul  this  period  (1086)  that  the  Domesday 
I:  ■■</:  was  compiled,  and  a  great  assembly  on  Salisbury 
Plain  ordered  every  free  man  to  swear  direct  and  immediate 
alh"_rianee  t<>  the  king  as  his  own  sovereign.  The  object  of 
the  inquiry,  which  Domesday  /!•><>/,■  records,  was  threefold: 
••ill  To  give  a  basis  for  taxation;  (2)  to  serve  as  an  authority 
by  which  all  disputed  land-titles  might  he  settled;  and  (•:)  to 
he  a  census  and  muster-roll  of  the  nation."  At  the  royal 
command   census-takers    went    to   the   head    men    in    every 

shire,  borpUgh,  parish,  and  manor,  and  asked  these  questions: 
"What  i-  tin-  name  of  your  township ?  Who  was  lord 
thereof,  hi -hop,  or  abbot  in  t  1m-  reign  of  Good  King  Edward  ? 
How  many  thanes,  how  many  freemen,  and  how  many  Berfs 
are  there?      How  many    acre-  and   \\h:it   were    they  worth    in 

the  Confessor's  days?     What   property  has  each  freeman?" 
The  answers  were  collected  h\    the  royal  clerks,  and 

written  down    in    the    hook    called    Domesday,  which    still 


88  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

exists,  giving  us  an  invaluable  statement  of  the  condition  of 
the  kingdom  of  England  in  the  year  of  our  Lord  1086.  This 
was  the  closing:  event  in  Ens-land  of  William's  reiern.  The 
next  year  saAV  his  miserable  death  in  his  fatherland.  At  war 
with  his  feudal  lord,  the  French  king,  be  took  and  burned 
the  town  of  Mantes.  A  fire-brand  from  a  blazing  building 
caused  William's  horse  to  swerve,  throwing  his  corpulent 
rider  heavily  upon  the  pommel  of  his  saddle.  The  internal 
injury  soon  threatened  death.  At  Rouen,  the  capital  of  his 
viking  ancestor  Rollo,  the  Conqueror  breathed  his  last. 
Many  prayers  and  much  confession  did  his  thick  lips  mur- 
mur. Eldest  son  Robert  was  to  have  the  Norman  inherit- 
ance ;  England  he  had  wrongfully  conquered,  and  he  could 
not  bequeath  it,  he  said,  but  he  hoped  God  would  permit  his 
second  son,  William,  to  rule  the  island  realm  ;  for  Henry, 
the  scholarly  son,  there  was  a  certain  treasure  of  five  thousand 
silver  pounds;  the  remainder  of  his  goods  the  priests  and 
monks  should  have  for  the  poor  and  the  Church.  So,  deploring 
his  wicked  deeds,  and  boasting  of  his  better  acts,  his  spirit  left 
him.  His  sons  hasted  hither  and  yon  to  secure  their  inherit- 
ance, and  the  monarch's  remains  were  thrust  into  a  humble 
grave  in  the  Norman  church  of  Caen. 

William  II.,  called  Rufus  ("the  red"),  lost  no  time  in 
reaching  England.  Lanfranc,  the  archbishop,  the  most  in- 
fluential man  of  the  kingdom,  pronounced  in  his  favor,  and 
the  assembly  of  nobles  finally  elected  him  king.  There  were 
dissenting  voices,  however.  The  barons  holding  estates  from 
Duke  Robert  and  King  William  were  displeased* to  serve 
two  masters.  In  Normandy  they  were  almost  independent 
of  the  chivalrous  Robert  ;  in  England  they  were  mastered 
by  the  fierce  and  tyrannical  "red  king."  For  Rufus  had 
much  of  the  Conqueror's  ability.  He  was  bold  in  design, 
prompt  to  act,  and  a  stranger  to  fear.  But  he  lacked  his 
father's  self-control,  and  for  the  great  man's  purity  of  life  he  ex- 
changed an  extravagance  and  profligacy  heretofore  unknown 


Till:    NOBMAS    (  ONQ1  EROR8.  B9 

in  England.  Hi*  ancle  Odo,  released  from  custody  at  Will- 
iam's death,  conspired  with  the  barons  to  place  Robert  in 
tin-  iv<l  king's  scat.  This  threw  William  npon  the  old  En- 
glish element  for  support,  and  well  did  they  give  it.  With 
an  English  army  he  quelled  the  earlier  outbreak,  and  a  later 
plot,  which  Bought  to  place  his  cousin  Stephen  on  the 
throne.  Three  parties  we  find  in  the  England  of  those  days 
— the  king,  a  foreigner  ;  his  barons,  rich  and  powerful,  but 
rebellious  against  the  overshadowing  authority  of  their 
sovereign;  and  the  mass  of  the  common  people.  From  the 
interaction  of  these  force-  Bprang  English  liberty.  A  king 
hard-pressed  by  his  barons  would  concede  liberties  to  his 
people  in  return  for  their  assistance,  and  the  barons,  tyran- 
nised by  the  kinir,  would  unite  with  the  people  to  force  the 
king  to  terms.  By  Buch  indirect  means  the  problem  of 
English  freedom  came  to  solution. 

Among  the  sins  which  haunted  the  visions  of  the  expiring 
Conqueror  were  the  extortions  and  avarice  of  his  closing  years. 
In  this  form  of  misrule  his  son  outstripped  him  far.  The  in- 
herited  treasure  the  king's  wild  way  of   life  soon  dissipated, 

and  hi^  ministers  were  ordered  to  swell  the  revenue,  They 
had  recourse  to  a  new  form  of  tyranny.  The  English  Church 
owned  a  large  share — some  say  one  fifth — of  all  the  landed 
property  in  England.  Bishops  and  abbots  were  feudal 
princes  like  the  secular  barons,  and  did  military  service   for 

their    lands.      As    they  were    unmarried    monks   their  estates 

were  not  hereditary,  and  vacancies  caused  by  death  or  re- 
moval were  filled  by  the  king.  William's  chief  adviser  at 
this  time  was  the  bishop  of  Durham,  one  Ranulf,  called 
Flambard  ("the  fire-brand"),  a  wilj    but   ignoranl   Norman 

priest,  who    had   worked  himself  high    in    the  ('lunch   and  in 

the  king's  favor,  although  he  was  unscrupulous,  and  cared 

not  a  whit  for  the  religion  of  which  he  was  a  minister.  Fol- 
lowing his  advice,  the  king  allowed  \aeant  abbacies  and 
bishoprics  to  -_'..  unfilled  lor  year-  together,  their  revenues 


90  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

meanwhile  being  collected  for  the  royal  use.  In  this  way 
the  highest  offices  in  the  Church  lay  vacant,  and  the  organi- 
zation ran  a  ruinous  course.  Even  the  see  of  Canterbury 
had  no  head  for  four  years  after  Lanfranc's  decease.  But 
an  illness,  which  dragged  William  to  death's  door  in  1093, 
seemed  to  his  superstitious  mind  a  judgment  for  his  wicked- 
ness, and  he  compelled  Anselm,  abbot  of  Bee,  in  Normandy, 
to  become  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  In  his  own  way  this 
Anselm  was  a  worthy  successor  of  his  friend  Lanfranc. 
But  their  ways  were  diverse.  Both  were  high-minded  men, 
profoundly  learned,  and  devoted  to  the  Christian  Church  ; 
but  the  latter  was  a  man  of  the  world  as  well  as  of  the 
cloister,  and  could  lead  and  control  by  his  will  the  rough, 
unlearned  Norman  nobles  as  well  as  the  gentle  scholars  who 
listened  to  his  gracious  words.  Anselm's  world  was  one  of 
books  and  meditation,  and  lay  far  from  that  of  the  head- 
strong William,  whose  recovered  strength  was  put  to  its  first 
use  in  a  close-locked  struggle  with  the  quiet  but  unflinch- 
ing monk.  The  question  at  issue  was  the  supremacy  of  king 
or  pope,  and  Anselm  placed  the  pope's  authority  above  the 
monarch's.  After  four  years  of  obstinate  debate  the  arch- 
bishop withdrew  to  Rome,  and  William  greedily  resumed 
the  rich  revenues  of  Canterbury.  Neither  side  gained  much 
real  satisfaction  from  this  trial  of  strength,  but  the  noble 
example  of  a  single  freeman  resisting  the  encroachments 
of  a  king  was  not  lost  upon  the  nation,  which  had  some 
questions  of  the  same  kind  accumulating  for  settlement  at 
no  distant  day. 

During  the  quarrel  with  Anselm  concerning  the  right  of 
the  pope  alone  to  consecrate  an  archbishop  the  king's 
hands  had  not  been  idle.  Malcolm,  king  of  the  lowland 
Scots,  was  the  center  of  the  old  English  sj)irit.  His  subjects 
were  mostly  of  English  blood,  his  wife  was  Margaret,  a  prin- 
cess of  Cerdic's  house,  and  his  territories  adjoining  the  hold- 
ings of  the  north  country  nobles  suffered  from  inroads  of  the 


Tin:    NoBMAV    CONQI  BBOB8.  91 

robber  barons,  and  from  the  establishment  of  the  earldom  of 
Cumberland  with  the  Btrong  fortress  of  Carlisle  to  overlook 
the  border.  Malcolm's  invasion  of  England  failed,  however, 
and  was  followed  by  a  civil  war,  which  brought  Edgar,  Mar- 
garet's Bon,  t<>  the  Scottish  throne  (1097). 

Into  Normandy  Rufus  had  marched  as  early  as  1091,  and 
agreed  with  bis  brother  Robert  that  on  the  death  of  either 
the  dominions  of  both  should  be  united  under  the  survivor. 
But  this  treaty  was  never  fulfilled.  In  1090  Duke  Robert, 
his  viking  blood  inflamed  with  love  of  adventure,  and  hi< 
religious  enthusiasm  Btirred  by  the  news  that  the  Mohammed- 
ans had  captured  Jerusalem,  joined  the  counts  and  barons 
of  France  and  Italy  who  made  the  Firsl  Crusade.  To  equip 
his  quota  for  the  expedition  lie  borrowed  £6,666  of  his 
brother  William's  ill-gotten  gain,  pledging  his  duchy  of 
Normandy  in  payment  of  the  loan.  While  the  duke  was  in 
Palestine  the  king  made  friends  of  the  Norman  nobles,  and 
ruled  Normandy  bo  well  that  he  quite  supplanted  Roberl  in 
the  affections  of  hi-  Bubjects. 

At  home  the  king's  arts  of  oppression  multiplied.  His 
history  is  a  record  of  vice  and  gross  licentiousness.  "Never 
day  daw  in-.  1."  says  one  gloomy  historian,  "bu1  he  rose  a  w  orse 
man  than  he  had  lain  down  ;   never  sun  set  but   he   lay  down 

a  worse  man  than  he  had  risen.*'  Yet  William  the  Red  was 
do  savage.     The  castles  and  churches  thai  he  buill  are  noble 

Structures,  as  he  may  testify   who  is  familiar  with  the  ancient 

portions  of  the  Tower  of  London  and  Westminster  Hall. 

The  Conqueror  did  heartily  love  the  tall  deer,  said  a  writer 
who  knew  him.  The  chase  was  his  chief  sport,  and  in  Hamp- 
shire he  cleared  the  tenants  from  a  vast  range  of  farm-lands 
and  woodlands  to  make  the  deer  park,  which  still  retains 
it-  first  name,  "the  New  Forest."  The  evicted  English 
cursed  the  kim_r  f^r  his  cruelty  in  taking  their  lands,  as  well 
as  for  the  cruel  forest  laws,  bj  which  he  kepi  the  game  for 
hi-  private  pleasure,  and  they  declared  thai  the  New   Foresl 


92  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

would  be  fatal  to  Lis  line.  Indeed,  his  son  Richard  died 
there,  and  another  Richard,  son  of  crusading  Robert.  But 
William  Rufus  feared  nothing. 

He  was  a  mighty  hunter,  and  often  rode  with  his  bowmen 
after  the  deer-hounds.  But  one  day,  when  he  had  ridden 
afield  flushed  with  wine,  the  forest  curse  fell  upon  him. 
His  huntsmen  found  him  dead  under  a  tree  with  an  arrow  in 
his  breast.  No  one  knows  whose  bowstring  drove  the  arrow 
to  its  mark.  Dying  unshriven,  he  was  buried  without  Chris- 
tian services  at  Winchester,  the  old  West  Saxon  capital,  and 
even  after  his  dishonored  body  rested  in  the  earth  the  tower 
of  the  abbey  church  above  it  fell  in  ruins,  betokening,  so 
wagged  the  English  tongues,  God's  righteous  wrath. 

Prince  Henry  himself  was  on  that  merry  hunting  party 
after  the  deer-hounds,  and  when  they  told  him  of  his  brother's 
death  he  spurred  his  horse  to  Winchester,  seized  the  royal 
treasure,  and  demanded  the  crown.  By  the  old  agreement 
Robert  was  the  rightful  successor,  but  Robert  had  not  yet 
returned  from  the  Holy  Land.  Henry's  promptness  gained 
the  day,  and  in  the  words  of  his  proclamation,  "  by  God's 
mercy  and  the  common  counsel  of  the  barons  of  the  whole 
realm  of  England,"  he  was  crowned  king.  William's  rule 
had  been  so  hateful  and  his  own  title  was  so  doubtful  that 
the  new  king  made  a  high  bid  for  popularity.  A  paper, 
or  "  charter,"  was  granted  by  the  monarch  to  the  nation. 
He  pacified  the  barons  by  releasing  them  from  many  of  the 
feudal  assessments  on  their  manors ;  better  laws — those  of 
Edward  the  Confessor — were  provided  to  the  common  peo- 
ple, and  the  Church  Avas  promised  immunity  from  the  unjust 
depredations  of  the  preceding  reign.  As  an  earnest  of  good 
intentions,  the  king  recalled  Anselm  from  Rome,  and,  him- 
self a  native  of  England,  took  to  wife  the  Saxon  Edith, 
henceforth  called  Matilda,  the  daughter  of  the  king  of  Scots 
and  great-grandchild  of  Edmund  Ironside.  His  fondness  for 
the  islanders  was  such  that  the  Normans  gave  the  royal  pair 


The  X.'Um.vn   CoNQUBBOBS. 

the  Saxon  nickname  "Goodrich  and  Godiva."  Henry  I. 'a 
surname,  Beauclero  ("  the  Scholar  "),  was  not  won  by  any  mar- 
velous achievements  in  Learning,  but  by  the  contrasl  between 
his  tastes  and  1 1 1 « . ~ « •  of  his  father,  the  iron-willed  Conqueror, 
and  his  brothers,  the  dashing  Robert,  and  William,  the  red 
king.  Until  Ins  coronation,  Henry  had  lived  a  life  of  pleas- 
ure en  his  estates  in  Normandy;  bul  throughout  his  reign  he 
exhibited  the  force  and  wisdom  of  his  race.  Order  was  his 
first  law,  ami  he  cared  less  for  fresh  conquests  than  he  did 
for  the  submission  of  his  father's  subjects  t»>  his  own  undis- 
puted  will. 

In  1101  Duke  Robert  invaded  the  island,  claiming  his  in- 
heritance, ami  many  harons  did  him  homage  ami  led  their 
men  to  his  camp,  hut  Henry,  supported  as  William  had  been 
by  an  English  army,  and  wielding  a  powerful  weapon  in 
Anselm's  threat  of  excommunication  against  the  rebels, bought 
peace.  Robert  gave  up  England,  and  kept  Normandy,  re- 
ceiving a  yearly  cash  payment  from  the  king.  The  peace  was 
brief.  Henry's  vengeance  pursued  the  rebel  barons — chief 
among  them  Robert  of  Belesme,  Earl  of  Shrewsbury — till 
they  Bought  refuge  in  Normandy,  there  to  plot  his  destruc- 
tion. Even  into  his  brother's  dominions  ho  followed  them 
twice,  defeating  the  Normans  in  1 106  at  Tinchebrai,  and  capt- 
uring their  duke.  From  this  time  until  his  death  Bang 
Henn  was  master  of  all  the  Conqueror's  dominions.  Robert 
died  a  prisoner  at  Cardiff,  and  the  efforts  of  the  French  king 
to  re-instate  his  boh  William  in  Normandy  were  baffled. 

If  the  union  of  England  and  Normandy  was  the  e\ent  of 
IT  nry'fl  reign,  the  quarrel  with  Anselm  and  the  quest  for  an 
heir  were  it  -  absorbing  political  questions.  The  ecclesiastical 
Btruggle  was  not  unlike  that  of  Rufus's  reign.  Bothpopeand 
king  claimed  therighl  of  "investiture"  (the ceremony  of  pre- 
senting to  the  newly  elected  abbol  or  bishop  the  Btaffand  ring 
of  their  Bacred  office  }.  Should  the  pope  gain  thi>  right  he 
would  be  enabled  to  annul  the  kin^'-  appointments     should 


94  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

the  king  retain  the  right  he  would  be  the  real  head  of  the 
Catholic  Church  in  the  island.  In  1100  Anselm  went  into 
exile  rather  than  yield,  hut  in  HOG  Henry  recalled  him  and 
found  means  to  compromise  the  matter,  each  side  retaining  a 
check  on  the  action  of  the  other. 

Henry's  hopes  for  a  successor  were  bound  up  in  the  person 
of  his  beloved  boy  William,  "the  Atheling,"  as  the  English 
called  this  son  of  a  Saxon  princess,  and  from  the  day  when 
the  White  Ship  bearing  the  prince  went  down  (1120)  in  the 
Channel  the  monarch  never  smiled.  No  woman  had  yet 
ruled  in  England,  yet  the  king  compelled  his  barons  twice  in 
his  life-time  to  swear  allegiance  to  his  daughter  Matilda,  the 
widowed  empress  of  Germany.  To  save  her  Norman  domin- 
ions from  the  neighboring  counts  of  Anjou,  he  wedded  her 
again  (]  128)  to  the  count's  son,  Geoffrey  the  Handsome,  a  gay 
Frenchman,  whose  habit  of  decking  his  cap  with  a  sprig  of 
common  broom  (planta  genista)  gave  the  name  "  Plantagenet " 
to  a  line  of  kings.  The  fruit  of  the  union  was  a  son,  and 
before  his  death  (1135)  the  king  had  the  satisfaction  of  see- 
ing his  nobles  repeat  their  oath  of  fealty  to  Matilda  and  the 
baby  Henry  in  her  arms. 

The  miseries  of  the  next  generation  caused  the  people  to 
look  back  with  regret  to  the  n  good  old  times  "  when  Henry 
I.  was  king.  Yet  he  had  not  been  a  model  ruler.  Above  all 
he  was  a  despot.  The  reforms  which  he  had  promised  and 
the  smaller  number  which  he  had  executed  were  made  in  the  in- 
terest of  better  order  and  increased  revenue  for  his  own  com- 
fort and  enrichment.  He  seems  to  have  been  entirely  reck- 
less of  the  lives  and  fortunes  of  his  subjects.  Yet  it  so  hap- 
pened that  his  selfish  policy  produced  internal  peace  and  really 
improved  the  system  of  justice.  The  next  reign  was  anarchy, 
but  the  little  Plantagenet,  whose  birth  we  have  just  recorded, 
was  destined  finally  to  come  to  the  throne, and  in  along  and  use- 
ful reign  to  develop  the  crude  forms  of  his  grandfather's  time 
into  the  well-regulated  government  of  Henry  II.  the  statesman. 


ftlSE    OF    T1IK     DABOltS. 


CHAPTER  VI. 

RISE  OF  THE  BARONS.     1  135  A.  D.-121G  A.  D. 
FROM   THK    \         9G  OH   OF  STEPHEN   TO   THE   DBATB   OF  JOHN. 

Ix  tin-  story  of  tin-  twenty  years  that  followed  the  death  of 
Henry  L  it  is  easy  to  find  justification  for  the  iron  rule  of  the 
\  >rman  kings.  The  moment  the  Bcepter  fell  from  Henry's 
<4ra<j >  hopeless  anarchy  Beized  upon  the  realm. 

*Among  the  Norman  barons  who  Bwore  fealty  to  "the 
empn  as  "  and  the  little  Plantagenet  prince,  was  Matilda's 
cousin,  Stephen  of  Blois.  lie  was  the  ( Jonqueror's  grandson,  a 
handsome,  hearty  fellow  ready  with  sword  or  song:.  He  was 
a  favorite  with  his  companions,  ami  the  common  people  ad- 
mired him  for  a  liberal  and  chivalrous  knight.  Matilda  and 
her  proud  Angevin  husband  were  especially  disliked  in  En- 
gland when  Stephen  offered  himself  without  delay  a^  a  candi- 


•  THE    CCNQUEROR'3    CHILDREN. 

•  Ill 

of  Matilda  and  Stephen.) 

WILLIAM  I  . 

"  IMF.  < 

•i.niji  Hiui:,' 

IMwrt, 

WILLI  \M  II., 

HENRY  I.. 

1 
A. Ma, 

.1    ll.il. 

"  III   H    - 

r.  1100-1185. 

III.   St4  jiln  II, 

r.  1087-1100. 

1 

(  •mill  hi 

Hatllda 

i:       .iml  i  'Inn 

"tiik    Kmii 

in.  .'.  Geoffrey, 

8T1  1'IIK.N. 

'•  Pi  im  vi. i  \m  " 

i  'mini  iii  la 

Count  ••!  Ani'iii. 

i  nil. 

r.  1185-1151 

HENRY   II.. 

r.  ll.M  1189. 

■hi  England, 

' 

1 
ll.nrv.            Ill<  11  \Kli  1.. 

.ioiin. 

U.  i .                  r.  1 . 

U.  1188.         i 

Q6  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

date  for  the  crown.  His  chief  support  seems  to  have  come 
from  the  city  of  London,  but  he  was  crowned  at  Westmin- 
ster, and  having  secured  the  royal  hoard,  hired  an  army  to  de- 
fend his  claims.  Following  Henry's  brilliant  example,  he 
dazzled  the  nation  with  empty  promises  of  reform.  But 
good  fellowship,  knightly  prowess,  and  fair  promises  brought 
no  happiness  to  the  English.  The  barons  of  the  realm  cared 
little  for  the  rights  of  either  claimant  to  the  throne.  What 
they  were  quick  to  recognize  was  that  the  accession  of  a  wom- 
an or  an  easy-going  courtier  left  them  unbridled.  The  ad- 
ministration of  the  law  grew  lax.  Bad  barons  built  strong 
castles  on  their  lands,  whence  they  might  sally  to  rob  the 
traveler,  or  wage  war  upon  the  neighboring  earl  or  abbot; 
even  the  good  nobles — if  such  there  were — must  needs  dwell 
in  fortified  houses  to  save  themselves  from  the  outlaws  and 
robbers. 

Foreign  invasion  and  civil  war  were  added  to  the  terror. 
David,  King  of  Scots,  espoused  his  niece  Matilda's  cause, 
and  hacked  and  burned  his  way  into  Yorkshire,  until  checked 
at  Cowton  Moor,  August  22,  1138,  in  the  battle  of  the 
Standard,  in  which  archbishops,  barons,  and  people  united. 
The  discomfiture  of  the  Scots  was  complete,  the  English  con- 
quering under  a  standard  which  upheld  a  sacred  wafer  in  a  sil- 
ver box.  With  the  next  year  came  Matilda  herself  and  the 
outbreak  of  civil  war.  Robert,  Earl  of  Gloucester,  one  of  the 
crudest  men  of  these  cruel  times,  was  her  chief  partisan. 
Neighbors  took  sides  and  fought  each  other.  The  Avar  was 
made  an  excuse  for  pillage,  and  whoever  won  the  common  peo- 
ple suffered.  Their  law-courts  were  closed,  their  property 
seized,  their  lives  unsafe.  The  Church  did  nothing  to  help 
them,  and,  hopeless  in  their  misery,  they  said,  "  Christ  and  his 
saints  are  asleep."  The  misfortune  of  the  war  was  universal, 
and  its  favor  rested  now  with  Stephen,  now  with  Matilda. 
The  king  was  captured  (1141),  but  was  released  the  same 
year  and  besieged  the  empress  in  Oxford  Castle,  whence  she 


DOMINIONS 

OF  THE 

HOUSE  OF  ANJOU 


60  lu) 

Inloni  of  ih.'  Boom  of  AtiJ  <u        I        I 


RlSB   Of  Tin:    DABONS.  97 

escaped  by  Btealth  in  December,  1142.  Hie  Church,  Arch- 
bishop Theobald  at  its  head,  finally  delivered  England.  Its 
interference,  in  ll">:<,  when  young  Henry  Plantagenet  had 
landed  in  England  to  enforce  his  demands  for  his  mother's 
rights  ami  his  <>wn,  Becured  the  treaty  of  Wallingford. 
Stephen  was  left  to  rule  in  England,  pledging  that  Henry 
should  reign  after  his  death.  That  event  befell  in  1154,  and 
Henry  II..  the  first  Plantagenet  king,  was  crowned  king  of 
England.  Henry  was  already  feudal  lord  of  half  of  France. 
A-  tie'  descendant  of  the  dukes,  he  held  Normandy  ami  Brit- 
tany; from  Geoffrey,  his  father,  he  inherited  the  counties  of 
AnjOU  and  Maine  ;  (Jascony,  PoitOU,  and  (Juvennc  were  the 
dowry  of  Eleanor,  his  wife.  For  these  fiefs  he  did  homage 
he  French  king,  hut  of  England  he  was  absolute  lord. 

A  thorough  business  man  was  this  first  of  the  PlantagenetS. 

Though  lie  had  both  Cerdic's  hi 1  and  William's  in  his  vein-, 

he  was  neither  Norman  nor  Saxon,  and  in  his  reign  the 
marked  distinction  between  the  two  races  disappeared. 
French — and  rather  had  French  at  that — was  the  language 
of  court  and  town.  Bui  French  and  English  burghers  and 
courtiers  met  on  equal  footing.  The  king  chose  bis  attend- 
ants and  the  officers  of  bis  government  irrespective  of  race, 
and  much  work  he  found  tor  them  to  do.  For  himself,  he 
was  never  idle.  "The  hardest  worker  in  the  realm,"  men 
called  him,  a-  he  turned  l"r<  >m  t  reasury  accounts  to  diplomacy, 
from  diplomacy  to  war,  from  war  to  statesmanship. 

There  u.1-.  aeed  for  such  a  hard-headed,  practical  man. 
Order  musl  he  broughl  out  of  the  anarchy  of  Stephen's  reign. 
He  found  the  system  of  Henry  I.  clogged.  The  Karons  had 
stripped  the  monarch  <«f  mo>t  of  the  power  which  the  Nor- 
man kin'_r<  had  reserved  to  the  crown.  To  reduce  them  to 
their  subordinate  condition,  the  king  ordered  them  to  pull 
down  the   castles   which    they  had  lmilt    since   Beauclei 

time.      Then  he  took   from  the  barons  the    righl    to    try  law- 

cases,  which  they  had   seized   when  the  local  and  hundred 


j)8  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

courts  were  closed  by  civil  disorders  and  neither  the  king 
nor  his  traveling  deputies  heard  appeals.  Not  satisfied  with 
restoring  the  government,  he  sought  to  conform  all  the  busi- 
ness of  the  state  to  one  system  of  which  he  should  be  the 
mainspring  and  center-point.  Thus  his  reign  marks  a  most 
important  period  in  the  history  of  English  institutions. 

Among  the  clerks  of  the  train  of  Archbishop  Theobald — 
the  peace-maker — the  young  king  found  one  Thomas  Becket, 
or  a  Becket,  the  son  of  a  rich  Londoner  of  Norman  blood. 
The  archbishop  loved  and  trusted  his  clerk,  and  the  king 
discovered  in  him  the  stuff  for  a  firm  friendship.  He  ad- 
vanced Thomas  to  the  chancellorship,  the  highest  civil  office, 
and  the  two  young  men  together  worked  upon  Henry's  plans 
of  reform,  and  on  occasions  the  chancellor  (enormously  en- 
riched by  the  king)  fought  beside  his  master  in  battle.  In 
1162  the  death  of  the  old  archbishop  left  the  see  of  Canter- 
bury vacant,  and  the  king  secured  the  election  of  Thomas  a 
Becket  to  its  honors. 

Henry  proposed  to  introduce  a  serious  change  in  the 
ecclesiastical  system,  and  with  his  friend  at  the  head  of 
the  Church  he  hoped  to  avoid  such  strife  as  had  vexed  Henry 
I.  and  Rufus  in  their  controversies  with  Anselm.  This 
change  was  no  less  than  the  subjection  of  the  ecclesiastical 
courts  to  the  jurisdiction  of  the  king.  Since  the  Conqueror 
two  systems  of  law  and  two  judicial  bodies  had  existed  side  by 
side  in  England;  the  king's  courts — from  merest  town-moot 
to  the  shire-court  and  the  curia  regis — and  the  bishop's  court, 
which  not  only  tried  men  accused  of  offenses  against  the 
church  or  canon  law,  but  which  had  jurisdiction  over  every 
person  who  had  taken  the  tonsure.  The  penalties  in  the 
bishop's  courts  were  comparatively  slight,  and  many  a  thief 
escaped  hanging  by  claiming  "  benefit  of  clergy  "  (pleading 
some  connection  with  the  Church),  and  bringing  his  case  be- 
fore the  bishop.  The  king  wished  to  restrict  the  ecclesias- 
tical courts  to  the  trial  of  causes  in  which  the   Church  was 


Risk  of  tiik  Basons.  ".' 

especially  concerned.  At  a  greal  assembly  of  barons,  abbots, 
and  bishops,  held  at  Clarendon,  in  llG-i,  tin-  famous  Consti- 
tations  of  Clarendon  were  framed  to  cover  this  reform.  They 
re-asserted  the  "customs"  of  the  Conqueror,  declaring  the 
king's  Bupremacy  in  the  English  Church,  and  they  further- 
more established  the  king's  right  to  decide  in  which  court 
suit-  Bhould  be  brought;  to  be  represented  by  an  officer  at  all 
ecclesiastical  proceedings;  and  to  hear  and  decide  appeals 
from  the  bishop's  decision.  The  man  whom  the  king  had 
made  archbishop  was  more  loyal  to  Church  than  to  king;  at 
first  he  wavered,  hut  S0011  shaping  his  course  he  denounced 
the  Constitution  and  tied  from  the  kingdom  to  escape  the 
tumultuous  anger  of  the  monarch.  After  six  years  of  exile 
(1164-1170)  the  pope's  threats  forced  the  king  to  recall  the 
primate.  The  two  men  acted  a  hollow  reconciliation.  There 
was  nothing  in  it.  Henry  could  find  no  patience  for  the 
rebel  priest,  and  four  knights  who  heard  his  ravings  attacked 
the  archbishop  in  his  cathedral  of  Canterbury,  and  slew  him 
on  the  altar-steps  four  days  after  Christmas,  in  the  year  of 
grace  1170.     In  later  days  pilgrims  came  in   crowds  to  the 

shrine  of  St.  Thomas,  that  "  holy  blissful  martyr  for  to  seek/' 

The  popular  horror  of  the  murder  caused  the  king  to  aban- 
don some  of  the  Clarendon  enactment-,  although  throughout 

his  reign  he  held  the  power  of  the  Church  well  in  cheek. 

If  the  independence  of  the  Church  was  to  be  feared,  the 
arrogance  of  the  barons  was  si  ill  more  menacing,  In  the 
beginning  the-  foresight  of  William  I.  had  cut  into  their  feu- 
dal Btate  by  requiring  all  freemen  to  swear  allegiance  directly 
to  the  king,  instead  of  the  Norman  usage  of  swearing  to  a 
lord  who,  in  turn,  vowed  fidelity  to  a  duke,  the  latter  doing 
homage  to  the  king.  I  [enry  II.  applied  William's  principle  to 
mi.  ervice.    All  tenants  owed  this,  but  the  king  allowed 

them  exemption  by  paying  him  a  tan  called  acutage.  With 
the  proceeds  of  these  scutages  be  employed  mercenary  troops 
for  his  war-  abroad.  Thus  the  Karon-  h>-t  the  private  armies 


100  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

of  pei'sonal  followers  which  had  every-where  in  feudal  coun- 
tries contributed  to  disorder.  By  the  "  Assize  of  Arms  " 
(1181)  all  freemen  were  obliged  to  muster  armed  at  summons 
from  the  king.  Of  more  importance  to  England  than  the 
Teforms  in  Church  and  army  were  those  which  were  gradu- 
ally engrafted  upon  the  law.  These  are  embodied  in  several 
"  assizes."  That  of  Clarendon  revived  and  extended  the 
"frank-pledge,"  a  police  system  by  which  small  clubs  of 
freemen  were  formed  for  mutual  security.  It  provided,  more- 
over, a  grand  jury  which  indicted  reputed  criminals  and  pre- 
sented them  for  trial  by  ordeal,  by  which  "  judgment  of 
God"  the  old  system  of  trial  by  "  compurgators  "  was  super- 
seded. In  1216  an  order  of  the  Church  abolished  the  ordeal, 
leaving  the  word  to  our  vocabulary,  but  replacing  the 
judicial  test  by  a  petty  jury,  such  as  still  remains  the  basis 
of  English  law. 

The  "Assize  of  Northampton"  (1176)  gave  currency 
and  system  to  Henry  I.'s  hap-hazard  plan  of  sending  justices 
throughout  the  island  to  preside  at  courts  in  the  king's  name. 
Henry  II.  divided  the  kingdom  into  six  such  judicial  circuits, 
and  regularly  heard  appeals  from  their  courts  to  himself  in 
the  council  of  his  barons,  the  highest  of  all  judicial  bodies. 
From  the  committees  of  this  council,  appointed  for  especial 
branches  of  the  law,  arose  the  modern  courts  of  King's  Bench, 
Exchequer,  and  Common  Pleas. 

Henry's  reign  was  not  entirely  given  up  to  administrative 
reform.  The  king  was  as  active  among  his  generals  as  he 
was  among  his  clerks  and  justices.  He  was  engaged  in 
three  futile  wars  with  the  Welsh,  who  had  been  only  partial- 
ly subdued.  After  Becket's  murder  he  went  to  Ireland, 
which  now  makes  its  first  important  entry  upon  the  stage  of 
English  history.  The  island  had  been  the  scene  of  the 
utmost  disorder  for  several  centuries.  Once  the  abode  of 
learning  and  piety,  it  had  fallen  into  a  pit  of  ignorance  and 
superstition.     One  Dermod,   a  fugitive    king    of    Leinster, 


Risk  OF  Tin:    BabOKS,  101 

came  to  Henry  and  Bwore  fealty  t<>  him  in  return  for  English 
;ii«l  in  regaining  his  throne.  About  11G0  Richard  of  Clare, 
an  English  noble  <>f  ruined  fortune,  led  an  irregular  expedi- 
tion to  Ireland  and  conquered  the  south-eastern  districts.  To 
him  went  Henry  himself,  in  1171,  perhaps  to  avoid  the  papal 
legates  who  came  to  curse  him  for  the  archbishop's  murder. 
The  next  year  he  ret  arned  in  time  to  meet  the  new  legates,  who 
brought  absolution.  Ireland,  though  now  nominally  an 
English  fief,  remained  unconquered,  save  where  Richard  of 
Clare,  called  "Strongbow,"  lorded  it  over  the  wretched  Irish. 
Henry  managed  the  affairs  of  his  kingdom  better  than 
those  of  his  own  household.  His  wife  Eleanor,  a  woman  of 
distinguishe  1  ability,  hated  him  for  his  infidelity.  His  sons, 
Henry,  Geoffrey,  Richard,  and  John,  were  the  heaviness  of 
their  father.  The  principle  of  heredity  was  not  yet  admit- 
ted, and  the  king  was  anxious  about  the  succession,  To 
ire  the  crown  to  his  eldest  son,  Prince  Henry,  he  had  his 
barons  Bwear  allegiance  to  him,  and  in  117<>  had  him  formally 
crowned.  From  this  time  "  the  Young  Kins  "  was  a  source  of 
continual  -trite.  lie  claimed  a  share  in  the  government, and 
demanded  thai  a  part  of  the  inheritance,  either  Normandy  or 
England,  should  be  given  to  him   forthwith.     The  king  had 

already    made  his  will,  but     refused    to  be  his  own  executor. 

At   hi-  death  Henry  was  .to  have  Normandy  and    England 

and  Anion  ;  Richard's  share  washis  mother's  dowry,  A.qui- 

taine  and   Poitou,  and  Geoffrey  should  be  duke  of  Brittany. 

.John,  the  youngest   son,  was  omitted  in  the  distribution, 

and  men  —  perhaps  his  brothels  began  it  —dubbed  him  John 
Lackland.  Little  John  w.i-  the  king's  favorite,  and  he 
tried  '..  Bave  a  portion  for  him  by  persuading  the  elder 
brothers  to  grant  him  certain  castles  and  manors  of  their 
own.  The  surly  Henry  rudely  objected,  and  leagued  with 
Ring  William  of  Scotland  and  a  number  of  French  and  En- 
glish barons  to  wrest  the  sovereignty  from  his  father.  I'.m 
that  father,  once  aroused,  was  irresistible j  he  soattered  the 


i&2  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

French  armies  like  a  whirlwind,  capturing  the  rebels.  Mean- 
while his  lieutenants  in  England  had  found  once  more  that 
the  king's  strength  lay  in  the  confidence  of  the  English  com- 
mons. The  nobles  were  in  revolt,  but  the  royal  army  de- 
feated the  Earls  (1173)  and  captured  William  the  Lion,  King 
of  the  Scots.  This  sharp  work  was  done  while  Henry  was 
absent.  The  capture  of  William  was  announced  almost  im- 
mediately after  the  king  had  landed  in  Kent  and  made  a 
humble  pilgrimage  to  the  shrine  of  St.  Thomas  at  Canter- 
bury. Little  blood  was  shed  in  punishment  for  this  rebellion; 
but  more  castles  had  to  come  down  and  more  baronial  power 
had  to  be  centered  in  the  king.  The  king  of  Scots  was  not 
liberated  until  (11T5)  he  swore  on  bended  knee  to  hold  his 
realm  as  a  fief  of  the  English  crown. 

For  the  rest  of  his  life  Henry  lived  chiefly  on  the  Conti- 
nent. His  possessions  there  were  richer  and  more  populous 
than  in  England  ;  and  there,  too,  he  might  watch  the  course 
of  his  rival,  the  king  of  France,  and  keep  an  eye  on  his  un- 
filial  sons.  England  was  ruled  meanwhile  by  the  king's  jus- 
ticiar, Ranulf  Glanville,  one  of  the  lawyers  whose  influence 
is  apparent  in  the  wise  constitutional  changes  of  the  reign. 

In  vain  the  king  besought  his  sons  to  join  hands  for  their 
common  safety.  The  Young  King  Henry,  who  was  eventu- 
ally to  reign,  urged  the  brothers  to  swear  fealty  to  him 
now.  Richard  reluctantly  obeyed,  but  a  bloody  quarrel 
rather  than  an  alliance  followed  the  act.  The  old  king  and 
Richard  took  arms  to  oppose  the  attacks  of  Geoffrey  and  the 
Young  King.  The  latter's  death  (11  S3)  ended  his  career  of 
mischief.  Three  years  later  Geoffrey  died  also — his  widow, 
Constance,  soon  after  bearing  him  a  son,  Arthur  of  Brittany, 
to  face  a  short  and  sorrowful  existence.  Richard  and  John 
Lackland  survived.  The  experiment  with  one  "  young  king  " 
convinced  Henry  of  the  imprudence  of  crowning  Richard. 
But  this  prince  made  close  alliance  with  Philip,  King  of 
France,  and  together  they  attacked  the  king,  now  broken  in 


RlBB   of  tiik   BabOXB.  103 

spirit  by  disappointment  and  the  rebellion  of  his  heartless 
sons.  In  July,  llsv\  he  left  England  for  the  last  time.  A 
truce  was  made,  but  it  endured  for  a  few  months  only.  At 
its  elose  Philip  invaded  An jon  (1189),  and  Henry,  without 
resistanoe,  gave  up  Le  Mans,  the  town  and  castle  of  his  birth. 
The  city  of  Tours  fell  on  the  third  day  of  July,  and  the 
>ick  and  despairing  monarch  surrendered  to  Philip  and 
acknowledged  Richard's  claim  to  the  crown  of  England. 
The  list  of  conspirators  was  placed  in  his  hands,  that  he 
might  forgive  them.  At  its  head  was  John,  the  child  of 
his  In-art,  and  when  he  saw  that  name  he  turned  bis  face  to 
the  wall,  lamenting :  "No  more,  no  more!  Let  all  things 
eo  their  way!"  Two  days  later  he  died  at  Chinon.  The 
garrulous  courtiers  said  that  when  Prince  Richard  passed  the 

royal  bier  bl 1  flowed  from  the  nostrils  of  the  dead  king, 

Bhowing  that  Richard's  conduct  bad  broken  the  heart 
within. 

Richard  Cceur  de  Lion  (Lion-heart)  was  Lorn  in  En- 
gland, but  until  the  Young  King's  death  bad  little  hope  of 
reigning  there.  His  father  early  gave  him  hie  mother's  prov- 
ince-, Aquitaine  and  Poitou,  and  there  the  prince  practiced 
the  arts  of  chivalry,  \\  ith  occasionally  a  fiercer  tilt  at  the  king 
of  Spain,  or  some  fellow-vassal  of  Prance.  Personal  bravery 
was  his  commanding  \  irtue.  He  was  a  burly,  red-faced  man, 
fond  of  rich  armor  and  brilliant  trappings.  England  never 
knew  him  well,  and  some  doubl  his  ability  to  speak  or  write  a 
single  sentence  in  English  ;  but  the  fame  of  his  exploits  filled 
all  Christendom,  and  long  after  bis  death  Richard  of  En- 
gland was  a  name  to  terrify  the  Turks.  The  romance  of  bis 
life  has  caughl  the  fancy  of  the  world,  and  the  extravagance 
and  licentiousness  which  marred  his  habits  are  forgotten. 

Q  een  Eleanor  held  England  for  her  son  until  he  came 
from  France.  No  united  power  disputed  his  title  to  the 
throne  of  bis  father,  and  the  realm  was  in  such  excellent 
prder  (hat   !"•  was  able  to  fling  himself  immediately   into 


104  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

preparations  for  the  enterprise  which  lay  so  near  his  heart. 
For  Richard  was  on  fire  with  crusading  fervor.  The  em- 
peror of  Germany  and  the  king  of  Sicily  were  already  off  for 
the  East,  and  both  Richard  and  Philip  of  France  had  taken  the 
cross  and  were  eager  to  join  them  in  Palestine. 

Money  was  the  king's  pressing  need,  and  he  obtained  it 
by  selling  privileges.  Scotland  bought  back  the  independ- 
ence that  its  king  had  forfeited  to  Henry  II.,  bishops  paid 
roundly  for  their  titles  to  the  lands  of  the  bishoprics,  earls 
for  their  earldoms,  barons  for  their  manors.  The  offices  of 
justice  and  sheriff  were  made  to  yield  their  quota,  also,  to 
the  enormous  crusading  fund.  Before  quitting  the  island  he 
sought  to  insure  peace  and  good  government.  To  John,  his 
brother,  he  gave  six  English  counties,  so  that  he  lacked  land 
no  more,  but  he  gave  him  no  voice  in  the  government.  The 
administration  was  left  to  the  chancellor,  William  Long- 
champ,  and  to  the  bishop  of  Durham,  whom  he  made  justi- 
ciar, and  who,  as  legate,  wielded  the  anthority  of  the  pope. 
Fearing  trouble,  he  bound  John  and  his  half-brother  Geof- 
frey (not  to  be  confounded  with  that  brother  Geoffrey,  the 
father  of  little  Arthur,  the  pitiful  prince)  to  remain  outside 
the  kingdom  for  three  years. 

Philip  and  Richard  set  out  for  the  Holy  Land  in  1 190.  They 
were  delayed  all  winter  in  Italy,  where  their  jealousies  led  to 
the  brink  of  open  war.  In  June,  1191,  they  reached  Acre,  where 
a  Christian  army  had  held  a  force  of  Saracens  beleaguered 
for  several  years.  The  English  king  performed  astounding 
feats  of  valor  in  the  remaining  days  of  the  siege,  which  soon 
ended  in  the  surrender  of  the  city.  Philip  got  his  fill  of  cru- 
sading, and  sailed  for  France.  Richard  pushed  on  toward 
Jerusalem,  then  in  possession  of  Saladin,  the  most  renowned 
and  chivalrous  of  Mohammedan  sultans.  Discord  between 
the  English  and  French  thwarted  concerted  action,  and 
Richard  in  disgust  signed  a  truce  for  three  years,  three 
months,  and  three  days  with  the  infidels,  and  turned  his  face 


Rise  of  the  Barons.  105 

toward  Europe,  where  he  had  reason  to  believe  his  mv 

needful.  John's  term  of  absence  was  expiring,  and  Philip, 
now  his  enemy,  was  back  in  Fiance  In  his  haste  to  reach 
England  Richard  was  Bhipwrecked  in  the  Adriatic  and  capt- 
ured by  the  duke  of  Austria,  who  placed  him  in  the  custody 
of  Philip's  friend,  the  German  emperor,  IJenry  VI.  There 
he  remained  in  an  unknown  prison  for  thirteen  months,  and 
a  pretty  Btory  tells  how  Blondel,  his  minstrel,  wandered 
through  Europe,  singing  the  king's  favorite  air  under  many 
a  castle  \\  indow,  until  Richard's  own  voioe  took  up  the  strain 
and  finished  it. 

Richard  was  indeed  needed  al  home.     William  Longohamp 
had  quarreled  with  the  bishop  of  Durham  and  assumed  the  full 

control  of  the  state.      Ability  and  loyalty  William  doubtless 

had,  hut  his  pride  and  arrogance  set  barons  and  Englishmen 
alike  againsl  him.  The  better  to  manage  the  former,  he  took 
from  them  their  castles,  even  attacking  the  strongholds  of 
Prince  John,  who  returned  to  England  at  the  expiration  of 
bis  three-years'  bond.  Geoffrey,  the  half-brother,  also  came 
to  England  and  leagued  with  .John.  The  barons  and  bishops 
succeeded  in  driving  Longchamp  into  exile,  John  being  recog- 
nized as  Richard's  regent,  and  Walter  of  Coutances  proving 
hi--  own  credentials  as  royal  justiciar  and  papa!  legate  in  place 
of  the  banished  prelate.  John  and  Philip  now  intrigued  to 
prevent  the  return  of  Richard,  and  great  was  their  joy  at 
the  new-  of  his  capture  in  February,  1193. 

The  English  people  were  exceedingly  proud  of  their  ab- 
-«  nt  king,  foreigner  though  he  was,  and  they  left  no  stone 
unturned  in  their  efforts  for  his  release.  The  emperor  placed 
an  enormous  ransom  upon  him,  and  Philip  and  John  put 
every  obstacle  in  the  way  of  raising  it.  But  Queen  Eleanor, 
the  new  justiciar,  and  Hubert  Walter,  Archbishop  of  Canter- 
bury, put  themselves  al  the  head  of  the  enthusiastic  nation, 
and  the  sum  was  made  up.  The  rich  gave  liberally,  and  the 
common  people  gave  one  fourth  of  their  movable  goods  to 

r.* 


106  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

swell  the  fund.  In  a  twelvemonth  the  money  was  paid  over. 
The  emperor  kept  his  word,  and  Richard  was  set  free.  King 
Philip's  messenger  posted  to  John  with  the  words,  "Beware! 
the  devil  is  loose."  Kino:  Richard  arrived  in  England  in 
March,  1194,  just  in  time  to  witness  John's  surrender  to 
Archbishop  Hubert  and  to  pardon  his  brother  and  Geoffrey. 

He  spent  but  sixty  days  in  the  island  in  this  the  last  visit 
of  his  life,  and  he  applied  the  time  to  the  restoration  of  order 
and  the  levying  of  a  tax  to  defray  the  expense  of  the  war 
which  he  was  about  to  carry  on  with  France.  On  the  12th 
of  May  he  sailed  for  the  Continent,  leaving  Hubert  Walter 
to  govern  the  realm  and  raise  funds  to  meet  the  heavy 
draughts  of  the  campaign.  The  archbishop  was  a  well- 
trained  politician,  a  prudent  ruler,  and  a  statesman.  But  not 
even  he  could  continue  uninterruptedly  to  exact  money  from 
the  English  to  support  an  unpopular  foreign  war.  In  1198  a 
great  council  of  notables — the  usual  bishops  and  barons — met 
his  request  for  an  extraordinary  contribution  with  flat  refusal, 
and  he  was  glad  to  lay  down  his  dignities  in  favor  of  a 
sterner  man,  Geoffrey  Fitz-Peter. 

The  money  wrenched  from  Englishmen  went  partly  for 
war,  partly  for  fortresses,  and  partly  to  buy  alliances  with 
the  enemies  of  France.  Had  Richard  been  able  to  unite  his 
French  dominions  with  his  English  heritage  for  a  common 
and  hearty  attack  upon  Philip  of*  France  he  might  have  won, 
but  his  continental  duchies  and  counties  cared  far  less  for 
him  than  did  his  English  subjects,  who  in  turn  felt  no  interest 
in  the  war.  To  protect  Rouen,  his  Norman  capital,  he  built 
that  splendid  Chateau  Gaillard  (the  "  saucy  castle  "),  which 
Philip  swore  to  take  "  were  the  walls  iron,"  and  Coeur  de 
Lion  vowed  to  defend  "  were  its  bulwarks  built  of  butter." 
To  crush  the  French  monarch  he.  and  his  stanch  friend  Long- 
champ  intrigued  with  the  Powers  of  western  Europe.  When 
the  plot  was  nearly  ready  for  execution  death  foiled  it.  In  a 
private  feud  with  the  count  of  Limoges,  over  a  treasure-trove 


Rise  of   mik  Barons.  i « > 7 

claimed  by  the  count's  master,  the  king  received  his  mortal 

hurt  from  an  arrow  Bhof  from  the  castle  wall  (1190).  So 
died  Richard  I.  of  England,  forgiving,  in  his  kingly  fashion, 
the  bowman  whose  shaft  had  struck  him  down. 

In  thelisl  of  English  kings  since  the  Conquesl  there  are  many 
repetitions:  four  Williams,  eight  Henrys,  >i\  Edwards,  four 
G  ges,  and  two  each  named  James  ami  Charles,  but  John 
has  had  m>  namesake;  no  English  queen  has  dared  to  christen 
a  s<.n  by  that  hated  name.  Of  John  Lackland,  the  prince, 
the  reader  knows  something — how  his  rebellion  broke  the 
heart  of  a  kind  father,  and  his  treachery  stole  the  kingdom 
from  a  brother  in  distress.  The  history  of  his  reign  lias 
blacker  stains  for  this  talented  ami  fascinating  monarch  Mas 
foul  in  his  life,  and  false  to  all  men  ami  women  with  whom 
he  had  to  do.  The  period  of  his  sovereignty,  however,  is 
worthy  of  the  closest  study  on  three  points — the  permanent 
separation  of  England  and  Normandy,  the  quarrel  between 
king  and  pope,  and  the  signing  of  the  Great  Charter. 

King  Richard  died  childless.  Bv  the  Norman  rules  of  in- 
heritance  his  next  of  kin  was  not  his  younger  In-other  .John, 
but  Prince  Arthur  of  Brittany,  son  of  his  elder  brother 
G  flrey,  whose  death  has  already  been  noted.  Yet  John 
claimed  th^  crown  of  England,  as  the  ablest  and  most  worthy 
male  of  the  house  of  Plantagenet,  and  Hubert  Walter 
managed  his  election  at  London  and  coronation.  From  his 
father,  Geoffrey,  young  Arthur  inherited  Anjou  and  other 

provinces  which  Henry  II.  had  held  as  a    vassal    of    the   king 

of  Prance,  ami  the  prince  after  recen  ing  their  allegiance  li\  ed 
B  '  Philip's  court.  John  claimed  these  provinces  for 
himself,  and,  with  the  advice  and  able  assistance  of  bis  queen- 
mother  Eleanor,  used  force  to  compel  their  submission;  1 'hi  lip 
lefl  Arthur  to  shift  for  himself,  and  the  boy,  now  fifteen  3  ears 
of  age,  fell  into  John's  hands.  Amystery  shrouds  Arthur's 
death,  bul  hi-  ancle's  cruelty  make-,  plausible  the  Btory  that 
he  was  murdered  at  Rouen*  either  by  John  or  by  his  royal 


108  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

command.  Philip,  at  least,  credited  the  report  and  ordered 
John,  as  his  vassal,  to  appear  before  the  French  barons  and 
clear  himself  of  the  accusation.  The  sentence  of  the  court 
was  forfeiture.  John  was  declared  to  have  forfeited  all  his 
French  fiefs.  Philip's  army  executed  the  decree  forthwith. 
The  "  saucy  castle  "  was  humbled.  Normandy  passively  ac- 
cepted the  French  rule,  and  the  entire  English  realm  on  the 
Continent,  save  a  small  district  in  the  south  of  France,  was 
seized  by  the  French.  John  returned  to  England,  now  his 
sole  possession.  Soon  after  his  arrival  Archbishop  Hubert, 
his  faithful  counselor,  died  (1205). 

The  death  of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury  inaugurated 
King  John's  disastrous  conflict  with  the  Church.  There  were 
several  candidates  for  the  primacy.  The  Canterbury  monks 
had  one,  John  named  another,  and  the  bishops  of  the  province 
nominated  a  third.  The  parties  took  their  dispute  to 
Rome,  where  Innocent  III.,  one  of  the  greatest  of  the  popes, 
threw  out  all  three,  and  appointed  an  English  scholar 
and  cardinal,  Stephen  Langton  (1207).  The  enraged  king 
swore  that  the  pope's  man  should  never  set  foot  in  the  king- 
dom. For  six  years  he  kept  his  defiant  word  in  the  face  of 
the  most  awful  power  in  Christendom.  Innocent  launched 
his  three  thunderbolts  successively  against  him.  First  an 
interdict  was  placed  upon  the  kingdom.  All  public  religious 
services  were  forbidden.  Churches  were  closed  and  all 
Church  ceremonies  save  baptism  ceased.  The  king  retaliated 
by  plundering  the  prelates  who  obeyed  the  pope,  and  by 
persecuting  the  Italian  priests.  Innocent  then  declared  the 
king  excommunicate,  and  his  people  were  ordered  to  have 
no  dealings  with  him.  Still  John  was  obdurate.  Innocent's 
final  act  was  the  Bull  of  Deposition.  The  king  was  now  a 
spiritual  outlaw,  and  his  vassals  were  released  from  their 
allegiance.  To  Philip  of  France  the  pope  intrusted  the 
execution  of  the  decree,  and  that  monarch  eagerly  prepared 
to  invade  England.     John  would  have  resisted  even  then  had 


Risk  ok  tkk   BABON&  109 

he  not  discovered  that  his  English  barons  were  deserting 
him.  By  a  sudden  ohange  of  front  he  yielded  to  Rome.  <>n 
May  l">,  L  213,  King  John  disgracefully  surrendered  his  king- 
dom to  the  pope's  commissioner,  Pandulf,  receiving  it  again  as 
tributary  vassal  of  Innocent  III.  Before  the  year's  end 
he  had  thwarted  Philip's  plan  <A'  invasion,  bul  his  attempts  to 
regain  any  portion  of  his  father's  lands  in  Prance  were  ended 
by  the  defeat  of  his  allies  at  Bouvines  (1214).  King  John 
had  only  two  rears  to  live,  hut  one  of  them — L215 — marks 
an  era  in  the  history  of  the  world's  struggle  for  freedom,  for 
in  that  year  the  great  charter  of  English  liberty  was  drawn 
up  and  Bigned. 

At  his  coronation,  and  twice  or  thrice  thereafter  when 
hard  pressed,  the  king  had  sworn  to  rule  justly,  after  the 
laws  of  the  best  of  his  predecessors,  but  his  promises  were 
"false  as  dicers'  oaths."  They  were  made  to  be  broken,  and 
the  oppressed  barons  Becretly  concerted  measures  for  holding 
him  to  their  performance.  Archbishop  Langton,  of  honored 
mcm..ry,  added  the  Influence  of  the  Church  to  the  strength 
of  the  nobility,  and  the  common  people,  finding  their  nat  oral 
leaders  united  and  their  sovereign  faithless,  turned  against 
the  king.  Langton  found  among  the  rolls  a  copy  of  the 
charter  of  rights  which  Henry  I.  had  granted.  This  for- 
gotten document  he  read  to  the  barons  assembled  at  St. 
Paul's  Church  in  London,  in  October,  L213,  proposing  it 
Bfl  ;i  basis  for  a  new  charter  which  should  limit  the  power  of 

the-  king  and  protect  the  rights  of  the  people. 

After  hi-,  discomfiture  in  France  John  turned  and 
twisted  to  free  himself  from  the  coil  of  difficulties  gathering 
about  him.  To  dissolve  the  union  of  the  nobility,  to  win  over 
the  clergy,  to  secure  the  interference  of  the  pope,  taxed  e\  ery 
device  of  the  king's  remarkably  fertile  brain  ;  but  Stephen 
and  the  men  who  believed  the  righteousness  of  their  cause 
and  knew  John's  worthlessncse  would  nol  be  put  off  or  gain- 
I.     They  gathered  an  army   and    marched    into    London 


110  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

(May,  1215).  With  not  a  single  man  of  weight  to  stand  by 
him,  the  king  yielded  at  last.  On  the  island  of  Runnymede, 
in  Thames,  between  Staines  and  Windsor,  he  met  the  barons 
and  signed  with  them  the  treaty  which  we  reverence  as 
Magna  Charta,  the  Great  Charter  of  England.  This  memo- 
rable event  took  place  on  the  15th  of  June,  in  the  year  1215. 

The  Great  Charter  was  a  plain  and  clear  statement  of  the 
several  rights  and  privileges  which  former  kings  had  granted 
to  the  Church,  nobility,  towns,  and  common  people  of  En- 
gland. It  contained  little  or  nothing  that  was  new,  but  it 
expressed  in  definite  shape  the  accepted  principles  of  good 
government  and  provided  means  for  applying  them.  It  de- 
clared, "  No  freeman  shall  be  seized,  or  imprisoned,  or  dis- 
possessed, or  outlawed,  or  in  any  way  brought  to  ruin,  save 
by  the  legal  judgment  of  his  equals  or  by  the  law  of  the 
land."  "  To  no  man  will  we  sell,  or  deny  or  delay,  right 
or  justice."  No  tax  could  be  levied  save  by  the  authority 
of  the  great  council — this  accords  with  that  maxim  of  lib- 
erty, "  No  taxation  without  representation."  All  privileges 
granted  by  the  king  to  his  tenants-in-chief  were  to  be  granted 
in  like  manner  by  these  barons  to  their  under- tenantry. 
Trade  was  relieved  from  excessive  duties,  the  rights  which 
the  city  and  town  corporations  had  acquired  were  to  be  re- 
spected. These  and  many  other  provisions  make  up  Magna 
Charta.  The  novel  feature  of  the  paper  was  the  appointment 
of  a  committee  of  twenty-five  barons  to  insure  its  execu- 
tion. 

But  John  did  not  dream  of  executing  it.  He  was  the 
pope's  man  now,  and  the  weapons  which  had  been  fleshed 
upon  him  were  at  his  disposal  against  his  enemies.  At  his 
suit  the  pope  annulled  the  charter  and  absolved  the  king 
from  his  share  in  its  enactment.  The  barons  rebelled,  and 
the  pope  struck  at  them  blow  after  blow.  Excommunica- 
tion was  followed  by  interdict,  and  the  king  hired  an  army 
of  continental  ruffians  to  chastise  them  until  they  cried  for 


Rise  of  the  Basons.  ill 

mercy.  Pandulf  declared  Langton  suspended  from  his  epis- 
copal authority.  The  barons  raised  such  forces  as  they  could 
master,  and  begged  Louis,  son  "t'  Philip  of  Franco,  to  rid 
their  island  of  its  monstrous  monarch.  Louis  landed  in  May, 
li'l<'>.  with  an  army.  John  was  in  the  north  fighting  the  king 
of  S  ■■•■-.  After  a  victory  he  marched  southward  to  meet 
the  new  foe,  but  in  crossing  the  sands  of  the  Wash  in  Lin- 
colnshire a  high  tide  swallowed  his  treasure  and  left  him 
weakened  in  the  presence  of  his  enemies.  Death  overtook 
him  before  the  dauphin's  army.  Fever — some  whisper 
poison — ended  his  wretched  life  at  Newark,  October  19, 
1216. 


112  An  Outline  History  of  England. 


CHAPTER  VII. 

THE  PLANTAGENET  KINGS.      1216  A.  D.-1327  A.  D. 

FROM  THE  ACCESSION  OF  HENRY  III.   TO  THE  DEATH  OF  EDWARD  II. 

William  the  Conqueror  and  his  son,  the  Red  King,  were 
pure  despots;  they  believed  that  absolute  power  in  the  hands 
of  a  monarch  was  the  best  form  of  government.  To  estab- 
lish this  system  they  broke  through  the  feudal  rules  of 
France  and  made  all  England,  noble  and  commoner,  swear 
allegiance  to  the  sovereign.  The  king  of  France  ruled  his 
barons — when  he  could  ;  they  in  turn  governed  the  people. 
These  two  kingdoms  developed  very  differently.  Centrali- 
zation in  England  ended  in  a  constitution,  by  which  the 
royal  power  was  hemmed  in  on  every  side,  and  the  common 
people  acquired  the  practical  direction  of  the  government. 
In  France  a  succession  of  powerful  kings  beat  down  the 
power  of  the  barons  and  consolidated  authority  around  the 
throne,  until  in  the  eighteenth  century — when  England  was 
ruled  by  an  elective  Parliament — Louis  XIV.  could  truth- 
fully say  of  France,  "  The  State  ?  I  am  the  State."  The 
preceding  chapter  outlined  the  progress  of  liberty  in  En- 
gland. The  administration  and  judicial  system  which  Henry 
I.  had  devised  for  the  sake  of  order,  and  which  Henry  II. 
had  broadened  and  strengthened  for  similar  reasons,  had 
proved  so  acceptable  that  its  neglect  by  John  threw  the 
kingdom  into  revolt — a  rebellion  so  serious  that  at  the  death 
of  the  king  half  his  barons  were  in  arms  against  him  and 
had  leagued  Avith  Louis,  son  of  Philip  of  France,  to  drag 
him  from  his  throne.  Led  by  Stephen  Langton,  the  barons 
and  bishops  had  forced  the  king  to  sign  the  Great  Charter, 


Tin:    l'l   LNTAGKN]   I     Kin..-.  113 

hut  before  his  death,  in  1216,  he  had  renounced  his  assent  to 
it  an«l  had  secured  a  decree  from  the  pope  annulling  the 
document  altogether. 

Affairs  were  in  this  woeful  case  when  the  death  of  John 
left  his  nine-year-old  son,  Henry  of  Winchester,  to  face  the 
exasperated  nobles  and  the  ambitious  dauphin,  Probably 
ha<l  the  king  lived  he  would  have  lost  the  crown,  but  his 
death  removed  the  most  serious  grievance  of  the  rebels. 
Patriotism  detached  some  from  the  French  prince;  the  pros- 
peel  of  more  independence  during  the  hoy  king's  minority 
doubtless  caused  more  to  fall  away.  The  barons  were  fight- 
iiiLT  to  compel  the  king  to  observe  his  pledge  of  good  govern- 
ment; opportunity  now  offered  for  the  patriots  and  nobles  to 
rally  round  an  infant,  and  in  his  name  to  set  up  the  system 
which  his  false  father  had  spurned. 

A  Bmall  but  able  hand  of  John's  friends,  chief  among  them 
William  Marshall,  Earl  of  Pembroke;  Peter  des  Roches, 
Bishop  of  Winchester,  and  the  papal  legate,  espoused  Henry's 
cause  and  had  the  little  fellow  crowned  king  at  Gloucester. 
In  his  name  they  re-issued  Magna  Charta,  omitting  tempora- 
rily several  sections.  William  Marshall,  a  tried  and  faithful 
friend  of  John,  assumed  the  regency  :i-  "governor  of  the 
king  and  kingdom."  In  1217  he  beat  the  French  and  En- 
glish at  Lincoln,  and  before  the  year's  end  he  had  cleared 
Louis  out  of  the  island.  Henry  was  accepted  as  king  by  the 
remnant  of  the  rebels,  and  in  his  came  the  regenl  again  re- 
issued the  charter,  from  which  the  pope  had  withdrawn  his 
condemnation.  In  L219  Earl  William  died,  having  saved  the 
country  from  France  and  civil  war.  Peter  des  Roches,  Pan- 
dulfthe  legate,  and  the  justiciar,  Huberl  de  Burgh,  together 
conducted  the  regency,  and  Henry  was  crowned  again  at 
Westminster  by  Archbishop  Langton,  whose  share  in  the 
events  at  Runnymede  was  now  forgiven  and  even  applauded. 

Hubert  was  'lie  great  man  of  the  t riumvirate  who  exercised 
the  king's  power,     Bishop  Peter  represented  one  dangerous 


114  An  Outline  Histoby  of  England. 

influence  and  Pandulf  another.  During  John's  reign  the 
many  royal  castles  and  some  of  the  chief  places  in  Church 
and  State  had  been  given  to  Frenchmen  like  Peter  des 
Roches.  Against  these  Hubert  proceeded  with  severity,  and 
succeeded  in  reclaiming  the  property  and  authority  of  the 
king  and  driving  out  the  foreigners.  Moreover,  the  legate 
Pandulf  represented  the  pope  of  Rome,  to  whom  John  had 
granted  the  kingdom.  At  the  return  of  Langton  the  legate 
was  superseded,  and  England's  Church  was  left  under  the 
control  of  the  archbishop  of  Canterbury.  These  were  genu- 
ine triumphs  for  Hubert.  In  1225,  when  the  justiciar  desired  a 
grant  of  money  to  meet  the  expenses  of  a  new  war  with 
Louis,  now  king  of  France,  King  Henry  '  again,  "  by  his 
spontaneous  will,"  solemnly  promised  to  respect  the  charter 
which  his  father  had  signed  perforcedly. 

With  how  little  sincerity  Henry  re-issued  the  charter  in 
1225  maybe  learned  from  his  course  after  1227,  when  he  be- 
came of  age  and  began  to  exhibit  himself  in  all  his  unfitness 
for  kingship.  He  ruled  in  his  own  name  forty-five  years, 
and  lost  no  opportunity  to  rid  himself  of  all  constitutional 
trammels,  and  to  show  his  disregard  of  Englishmen  and  his 
faithfulness  to  the  pope.  Hubert  de  Burgh  was  j  usticiar  until 
1232,  shielding  the  people  from  oppression  and  incurring 
the  hatred  of  the  king.  Henry,  guided  by  Peter  des  Roches, 
filled  the  high  places  in  the  administration  with  foreigners — 
Frenchmen — but  this  could  no  longer  be  done  with  impunity. 
The  days  were  past  when  England  was  the  unresisting  prey  of 
foreigners,  and  the  descendants  of  the  Conqueror's  Normans 
looked  upon  Henry's  French  officers  as  intruders.  Bishop 
Peter  secured  the  deposition  of  Hubert  de  Burgh,  and  when 
Richard  Marshall,  son  of  the  regent  William,  succeeded  him 
as  the  head  of  the  English  party  the  wily  Peter  had  him  ac- 
cused of  treason  and  destroyed.  Though  its  leaders  were 
cut  down,  the  rank  and  file  of  the  opposition  stood  firm.  In 
J 235  Peter  des  Roches  had  to  yield  and  leave  the  court, 


Tin:   IV  w  1  A.,i:\i:r  Kings.  115 

By  the  dismissal  of  both  Huberl  and  Peter  the  kin"-  was 
gainer.  Be  filled  their  places  with  insignificant  men — mere 
clerks — who  transacted  the  dnties  of  chancellor,  justiciar, 
and  treasurer,  but  who  had  no  power  and  exerted  no  influ- 
ence. The  authority  of  these  great  offices  the  king  reserved 
to  himself.  With  Btnbborn  disregard  of  the  demands  of  Ins 
subjects,  he  laid  upon  them  repeated  taxes  to  support  Ins 
petty  wars  with  Scotland.  Wales,  and  France,  and  to  lavish 
upon  the  gorgeous  tourneys  and  feasts  with  which  he  cele- 
brated the  marriages  of  his  family.  To  these  expenses  were 
added  the  great  Bums  which  he  pledged  to  the  pope. 

Before  each  fresh  imposition  the  bishops  and  barons  debated 
it  in  a  great  council — now  first  called  Paki.iamkxt.  So 
far  as  they  dared  they  resisted.  The  king  generally  gained 
their  consent  by  promising  to  redress  their  wrongs.  They 
were  Long  in  learning  how  vain  were  Ins  pledges.  They 
lacked  a  leader  hold  enough  and  patriotic  enough  to  compel 
the  king  to  keep  his  word  at  all  hazards.  Edmund  of  Abing- 
don and  Robert  of  Lincoln  among  the  bishops,  Earl  Banulf 
of  Cluster  and  John's  second  son  Richard,  Duke  of  Cornwall 
and  "  King  of  the  Romans,"  among  the  barons,  were  men  of 
genuine  nobility  and  pure  patriotism,  but  they  were  not 
fitted  to  fight  to  the  death  for  a  principle  as  did  Simon  of 
M  mtfort,  Earl  of  Leicester,  who  at  last  found  the  will  and 
courage  to  grapple  with  the  king. 

There  are  two  Simons  of  .Mont  fort  in  history.  The  elder 
Simon  belongs  to  Prance,  for  whose  king  he  Led  a  cruel  cru- 
sade againsl  the  Albigenses,  poor  peasants  condemned  by  the 
pope  for  heresy.  The  youngest  of  his  four  sons  became 
the  English  bero.  He  was  a  Frenchman  who  had  become 
!  of  English  Chester,  and  had  married  Henry's  sister 
I.  anor.  Strangely  enough,  we  find  Earl  Simon  ranging  with 
the  English  barons  in  their  resistance  to  his  brother-in-law 
King  Henry.  We  find  him  in  the  front  rank,  too,  his  name 
not.  a  uhit  lest  respected  than  that  of  the  king's  own  brother, 


116  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

Richard  of  Cornwall  (1244).  Whatever  were  Henry's  feel- 
ing's toward  his  sister's  husband,  he  sent  Earl  Simon  to  gov- 
ern the  Gascons  (1248),  who  still  remained  his  subjects  in 
France  ;  but  this  period  was  one  of  constant  bickerings. 
Gascony,  filled  with  the  hot-heads  of  the  south,  complained 
of  de  Montfort's  vigorous  measures,  while  Simon  and  the 
king  disputed  over  revenues  and  debts.  In  1253  the  earl 
returned  to  become  the  champion  of  the  English. 

The  royal  tyranny  grew  worse  yearly.  In  1257  the  king 
informed  the  Parliament  that  his  second  son,  Edmund,  was 
to  be  king  of  Sicily,  and  that  he  would  consequently  want  a 
large  sum  of  money.  The  barons  cut  the  appropriation  down 
to  one  third  of  the  sum  and  granted  it.  In  1258  the  king 
repeated  his  request.  He  had  pledged  his  realm  to  the  pope 
for  a  certain  sum;  if  the  barons  would  grant  it  he  would 
govern  henceforth  in  accordance  with  their  wishes.  The 
"  Provisions  of  Oxford,"  drawn  up  in  June  of  that  year,  ex- 
pressed the  desires  of  the  barons.  They  went  beyond 
Magna  Charta.  The  foreigners  were  to  be  sent  out  of  the 
kingdom;  the  great  offices,  whose  functions  the  king  had 
monopolized,  were  to  be  re-established;  the  financial  and  ju- 
dicial arrangements  of  Henry  II.  were  to  be  restored. 
Twenty-four  men,  twelve  by  royal  appointment,  twelve 
chosen  by  the  earls  and  barons,  were  to  carry  out  the  reforms. 
A  select  council  of  fifteen  was  to  meet  thrice  a  year  to 
advise  the  king.  Two  other  commissions  represented  the 
barons  and  the  Church.  To  all  these  acts  Henry  plighted 
his  sacred  word. 

England  had  now  limited  its  monarchy  and  undertaken 
to  establish  a  constitutional  government.  But  the  king,  on 
whom  much  depended,  was  as  false  as  the  traitor  John,  and 
the  barons  and  earls  Mere  jealous  and  discordant.  The  Pro- 
visions had  been  in  force  two  years,  when  Henry,  seeing  the 
disunion  of  his  enemies,  renounced  his  oath  and  received 
papal  absolution.     The   next  year  (1262)   he  turned  about 


Till:    I'l  w  i  a..i.\  1  i     Kin.,-.  117 

and  took  the  oath  a  Beoond  time.  E*rince  Edward,  the 
heir  t<>  the  throne,  was  by  this  time  old  enough  to  be  con- 
oerned  in  the  welfare  of  his  inheritance,  and  he  feared  lest 
Simon  de  Montfort,  the  directing  Bpiril  of  the  king's  council, 
Bhonld  usurp  the  title,  as  he  had  bade  fair  to  usurp  the  powers, 
of  the  sovereign.  In  L263  there  was  actual  civil  war,  but  in 
I  December  the  whole  matter  of  dispute  was  referred  to  Louis 
IX.  (Saint  Louis),  King  of  France.  His  award,  the  "Mise 
of  Amiens,"  given  in  June,  1264,  was  lor  Henry.  The  Ox- 
ford agreement  was  annulled,  the  king's  supremacy  restored, 
and  both  parties  exhorted  t<>  peace  ami  good-will. 

Simon  de  Montfort  refused  to  accept  t he  decision,  and  con- 
tinued the  war  againsl  King  Henry,  his  son  Edward,  and 
his  brother  Richard.  After  two  months  of  profitless  castle- 
taking  Karl  Simon  defeated  the  king's  army  at  Lewes,  and 
captured  its  three  royal  leaders  (1264).  A  new  Parliament, 
in  which  four  knights  from  each  shire  sat  with  the  barons  and 
bishops,  formed  a  new  constitution,  limiting  the  royal  pre- 
rogatives still  more  than  the  Provisions.  Three  counsel- 
On,  of  whom  Earl  Simon  was  one,  were  the  actual  rider-. 
By  their  advice  the  body  known  in  history  as  ••Simon  de  Mont- 
fort'- Parliament  "  waa  summoned  to  meet  in  January,  L265. 
It  i-  noteworthy,  because  her.',  for  the  first  time  in  England, 
the  towns  were  represented  1>\  members  who  sat  along-side 
the  earl-,  barons,  and  bishops  who  represented  the  feudal 
organization  of  the  realm.  It  marked  a  significant  step  in 
the  direction  "f  government  l»\  the  people. 

Earl  Simon*-  triumph  vanished  in  a  moment.  A  quarrel 
with  hi-  colleague,  the  earl  of  Gloucester,  re-opened  the  oivil 
war.  Prince  Edward  escaped  and  joined  Simon's  enemies. 
On  August  i,  1265,  a  hat  tie  was  foughl  at  Evesham.  Simon 
fell,  and   hi-   party  Lingered,  only  to  he  beaten   piecemeal. 

In    1267    the    war    WHS    Over.       The    kin,;,    though     vict  orioii-, 

dared  not  revive  tin-  tyrannies  of  his  early  reign,  but  he  sum- 
moned no  commons  to  his  Parliament  and  allowed    ii"  com- 


118  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

mittee  of  barons  to  rule  his  actions.  Prince  Edward  went  to 
the  Holy  Land  on  a  crusade  (1270),  and  in  his  absence  (1272) 
his  father  died,  after  the  longest  and  one  of  the  most  wretched 
of  English  reigns. 

Henry  III.'s  reign  covers  more  than  half  of  the  thirteenth 
century,  one  of  the  most  brilliant  epochs  in  the  history  of 
the  world.  A  revival  of  religion  in  the  Christian  Church 
sent  forth  two  orders  of  preaching  friars.  The  Dominicans, 
or  Black  Friars,  and  the  Franciscans,  or  Grey  Friars,  were 
men  who  took  the  vow  of  poverty  and  consecrated  them- 
selves to  preaching  the  Gospel  to  the  common  people.  They 
had  at  first  no  churches,  and  dwelt  in  no  monasteries,  but 
preached  in  the  streets,  and  at  the  road-side  crosses,  living 
on  the  scanty  alms  of  their  hearers.  These  begging  preach- 
ers did  much  to  purify  the  life  of  the  towns-people,  and  the 
more  learned  of  their  order  were  among  the  noted  lecturers 
in  the  new  universities.  For  it  was  during  Henry's  reign  that 
Oxford  began  to  be  known  in  England,  Scotland,  Wales,  and 
western  Europe  as  a  center  of  the  world's  learning.  A  few 
students,  assembled  in  the  previous  century  to  listen  to  lect- 
ures on  divinity  and  Roman  law,  formed  the  nucleus  of  this 
university,  whither  nocked  young  men  from  every  nation,  and 
where  Roger  Bacon  (1214-1292),  "the  first  name  in  the  roll 
of  modern  science,"  taught  and  wrote. 

After  two  centuries  of  French  Williams  and  Henrys  the 
Saxon  name  of  Edward  re-appears  in  the  list  of  English 
kings,  and — without  regard  to  the  West  Saxon  Edwards,  the 
"Martyr"  and  the  "Confessor" — this  son  of  Henry  III.  is 
known  as  Edward  the  First,  or,  in  the  jovial  language  of  the 
camps  through  which  he  strode,  "Edward  Longshanks." 
Seldom  was  prince  better  prepared  for  his  duties.  Through- 
out his  boyhood  he  witnessed  the  efforts  of  the  barons  to 
compel  his  father  to  respect  the  Charter;  in  his  younger 
manhood  he  learned  patriotism  and  military  science  from  his 
faithful  and  brilliant  uncle,  Simon  de  Montfort,  whose  party 


Tin:  I'lwi.u.exet  Kings.  ii:» 

lie  favored  until  he  had  reason  to  fear  their  usurpation  of  the 
throne.  Commanding  with  the  king  at  Lewes,  he  had  driven 
one  division  of  the  enemy  bo  far  in  his  impetuous  charge  that 
the  other  divisions  had  time  to  defeat  his  father  before  his 
return.  Ili^  maneuvers  and  bravery  ended  the  war  at  K\ 
ham,  and  hi-^  wisdom  then  took  him  on  a  crusade  (the 
rath)  to  Palestine,  to  allow  the  hot  tempers  of  the  king- 
dom time  to  cool  before  his  return.  At  the  news  of  his 
father's  death  (1272)  Edward,  then  thirty-three  years  of 
age,  vigorous  in  body  and  mind,  returned  to  England.  His 
career  in  the  East  had  yielded  do  permanent  success.  In 
Italy  he  paid  his  respects  to  the  pope,  and  in  Prance  he 
km  It  in  homage  to  King  Philip  [II.,  as  overlord  of  Gascony. 
It  was  1274  when  he  set  foot  in  England,  and  the  crown  of 
his  Plantagenel   fathers  was  placed  upon  his  head. 

Edward  I.  reigned  gloriously  for  thirty-live  years,  extend- 
ing the  boundaries  of  England,  exerting  her  influence  over 
Wales  and  Scotland,  and  giving  to  the  nation  itself  a  pride 
and  patriotism  it  never  had  known  before. 

The  Welsh  war  was  already  forward  when  Edward  rel  urned 
from  Palestine.  Wales  was  peopled  by  Celts  of  the  Cymric 
branch,  the  remnant  of  the  race  which  Caesar  had  found  in 
southern  Britain,  and  which  the  Anglo-Saxon  invasion  had 
driven  into  the  west  country.  Strathclyde,  Cornwall,  and 
the  lesser  Celtic  states  had  come  completely  under  the 
earlier  Saxon  and  the  later  Norman  rule,  bul  do  English  king 
had  yel  been  king  of  Wales.  The  people  were  Christians 
of  the  old  British  type;  they  spoke  the  old  Celtic  language, 
and  the  songs  of  their  bards  kindled  and  fed  a  fiercer  flame 
of  patriotism  than  any  thai  burned  in  an  English  breast. 
They  were  threatening  neighbors  for  the  West-of-England 
shires,  which  tie-  Norman  kings  had  sought  to  protect  by 
granting  to  their  border  earls  extraordinary  powers.  Thus 
the  families  of  Mortimer,  Bohun,  Marshall,  and  ( Hare  rose  to 
dangerous  eminence,  and  sometimes  actually   leagued  with 


i20  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

the  Welsh  princes  to  make  war  upon  each  other,  or  upon  the 
king.  During  Henry's  troublous  years  the  Welshmen  had 
steered  so  cleverly  that  at  its  close  their  Prince  Llewelyn 
refused  to  pay  homage  to  King  Edward.  In  1277  he  was 
forced  to  admit  the  king's  feudal  supremacy,  and  peace  was 
made,  the  prince  marrying  Earl  Simon's  daughter.  But  the 
treaty  was  soon  broken.  In  1282  Llewelyn  and  his  brother 
David  broke  faith  and  invaded  the  western  marches.  Ed- 
ward made  careful  preparations  for  a  campaign  against  them. 
The  half-measures  of  the  past  fifty  years  had  failed,  and  he 
now  determined  to  make  thorough  work  of  the  conquest. 
His  great  army  crossed  the  border,  defeated  the  prince  and 
his  brother,  and  received  the  submission  of  the  Celtic  chief- 
tains. It  was  long  believed  that  by  his  orders  the  bards 
who  had  inspired  the  Welsh  to  resistance  were  ruthlessly 
massacred,  but  the  story  is  not  worthy  of  credit.  In  1284 
the  "  Statute  of  Wales  "  proclaimed  the  annexation  of  the 
principality  to  England,  and  from  that  time  the  two  countries 
began  to  grow  together,  though  the  union  was  not  complete 
until  a  much  later  day. 

Soon  after  the  pacification  of  the  west  confusion  arose  in 
the  north.  The  death  of  the  Scottish  sovereign  left  that 
throne  vacant,  with  thirteen  claimants  wrangling  for  the 
seat.  Over  Scotland  the  English  kings  since  William  I.  had 
claimed  authority,  but  had  no  real  power.  The  disputed 
title  was,  however,  now  left  to  Edward  to  decide.  John  Bal- 
liol  and  Robert  Bruce  were  the  leading  candidates  before  the 
Scottish  council  which  King  Edward  held  in  Norham  castle  in 
1291,  and  to  the  former,  with  the  general  assent  of  the  Scots, 
the  king  awarded  the  crown.  Balliol  accepted  the  kingdom 
as  a  fief  of  England,  and  did  homage  for  it  in  true  feudal 
fashion.  Yet  both  the  Scots  and  their  king  fretted  under  this 
English  lordship.  They  resisted  Edward's  decree  that  appeals 
from  Scottish  law  courts  should  be  settled  in  his  own  council, 
and   they   refused    to   obey  his  summons   to   fight   in    the 


The  Pi  an  i  a'.i  nkt  Kings.  121 

English  wars.  In  fact,  Balliol  made  a  Beorel  treaty  with 
Philip  TV.  of  Franco. 

It  wa<  to  invade  Franco  thai  Edward  had  ordered  the 
Scottish  barons  to  join  lus  forces.  The  sailors  of  the  English 
Cinque  Ports  (the  channel  towns  Dover,  Sandwich,  Hastings, 
Hythc,  and  Romney)  had  quarreled  with  the  Norman  sea- 
men in  the  channel,  and  King  Philip,  as  Edward's  feudal  lord, 
called  him  t<>  account  for  his  vassals'  misdemeanors.  Edward 
went  not,  but  sent  his  brother,  offending  thus  His  Majesty  of 
France,  who  at  once  laid  hands  upon  G-uienne,  one  of  the 
fragments  of  English  territory  on  the  Continent.  There 
would  have  been  immediate  war  had  not  the  internal  af- 
fairs of  England  prevented.  The  defection  of  the  Scots  was 
the  king's  first  care.  lie  had  learned  of  their  alliance  with 
Franc* — the  beginning  of  a  connection  which  lasted  until  the 
eighteenth  century — and  demanded  possession  of  their  bor- 
der  castles  as  a  pledge  of  good  faith.  Balliol  returned  de- 
fiance. Edward's  army  Backed  the  border  city  of  Berwick, 
captured  Edinburgh,  Stirling,  and  Perth,  and  received  the 
surrender  of  the  Scots'  king.  John  Warrenne,  Earl  of  Sur- 
rey, was  left  to  pacify  and  organize  the  English  rule  in  Scot- 
land. The  Conqueror  took  hack  with  him  to  Westminster  a 
red  Btone  Bupposed  '"  1"-  the  hard  pillow  on  which  the 
patriarch  Jacob  dreamed  of  the  heaven-reaching  ladder. 
Upon  this  stone  in  the  abbey  <>f  Scone  <'aeh  sovereign  of 
Scotland  had  been  crowned.  Edward  had  it  placed  in 
the  English  coronation  chair  which  is  still  in  use.  When 
James  V  I.  of  Scotland  became  James  I.  of  England,  the  Scots 
saw  in  the  event  a  new  proof  of  the  sanctity  of  this  rock. 

Earl  Warrenne  was  rudely  stopped  in  his  work  of  organi- 
zation by  William  Wallace,  an  outlawed  Scottish  knight. 
The  baronage  and  the  clergy  obeyed  Edward's  lieutenant, 
who  accordingly  thought  he  had  the  tpuntry  well  in  hand, 
put  Wallace  called  upon  the  common  people  to  regain  the 
freedom  which  the  aristocracy  h  id  surrendered.  Such  a  tide 
0 


122  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

of  national  feeling  had  not  been  seen  before  in  Scotland,  and 
its  first  waves  were  resistless.  In  the  battle  of  Stirling  (Sep- 
tember, 1297)  the  earl  of  Surrey  was  put  to  rout,  and  he  stayed 
not  until  he  was  on  the  safe  south  side  of  the  border.  Wallace 
was  now  hailed  as  "  guardian  of  the  realm,"  but  Edward  has- 
tened against  him  with  an  overwhelming  force.  Two  abler 
generals  had  not  met  before  on  British  soil  than  Edward  and 
the  outlaw  Wallace.  The  superior  strength  of  the  English 
archers  carried  the  day  at  Falkirk,  in  July,  1298.  But  not 
until  1304  did  Edward  consider  the  conquest  of  Scotland 
completed.  Wallace  was  executed  as  a  traitor,  and  the  gov- 
ernment of  his  country  was  intrusted  to  a  council  of  Scottish 
nobles.  In  the  year  before  Edward's  death  (1307)  the  spirit 
of  Scottish  nationality  flamed  forth  again,  and  a  war  was  be- 
gun which  won  the  independence  of  that  kingdom. 

The  stirring  events  of  the  west  and  north  have  thus  far 
obscured  the  political  and  legal  activities  of  Edward's  reign 
— though  the  latter  are  even  more  important.  In  previous 
reigns  we  have  noticed  the  germs  of  parliamentary  govern- 
ment and  of  judicial  institutions; 'in  this  we  trace  the  devel- 
opment of  both  these  principles.  The  king's  justices  were  now 
divided,  for  judicial  purposes,  into  three  courts:  Exchequer, 
for  trying  revenue  cases;  King's  Bench,  where  criminal  suits 
are  heard;  and  Common  Pleas,  the  court  of  private  litiga- 
tion. A  separate  staff  of  judges  was  assigned  to  each  divis- 
ion. As  a  source  of  revenue  the  Parliament  of  1275  granted 
to  the  king  an  export  duty  upon  wool — the  first  customs  duty 
imposed  on  English  goods.  The  Welsh  and  Scottish  cam- 
paigns exhausted  the  royal  coffers  and  frequent  Parliaments 
were  called  to  devise  new  means  of  raising  money.  At  first 
the  innovations  of  Simon  de  Montfort  were  disregarded,  and 
only  the  barons  and  clergy  were  represented  in  these  gather- 
ings. But  the  government  was  hard  pressed  for  money  which 
the  towns-people  and  county-farmers  could  supply  if  they 
Would,  and  so  the  reform  came  about.     In  1295  King  Edward 


TlIK    Pl.ANTAOKNKT    KlNOS.  123 

summoned  the  first  perfect  Parliament — "the  clergy  repre- 
sented hy  their  bishops,  deans,  etc.;  the  barons  Bummoned 
severally  in  person  by  the  king's  special  writ;  and  the  com- 
mons summoned  by  wits  addressed  to  the  sheriffs,  directing 
them  to  Bend  up  two  elected  knights  from  each  shire,  two 
elected  citizens  from  each  city,  and  two  elected  burghers  from 
each  borough."     The  rightof  tin'  barons  to  be  Bummonedto 

■ 

Parliament  became  hereditary,  and  these  members,  with  the 
bishops,  made  up  the  House  <>f  Lords.  The  other  members, 
knights  and  commons,  formed  the  House  of  Commons, 
though  in  Eld  ward's  time,  and  long  after,  this  division  of  Par- 
liament into  tWO  houses  was  unknown. 

It  i-  do1  to  be  supposed  thai  Edward  granted  these  free 
institutions  t<»  hi-  people  from  any  philanthropic  motives* 
<  >rd<r  and  system  were,  in  his  mind,  essential  to  good  govern- 
ment, but  it  was  no  less  essential  that  the  king  should  be  the 
-"urc-  of  all  order  and  the  center-poinl  of  the  system.  His 
obstinate  persistence  in  subjecting  the  (  hurch  to  his  taxation 
involved  him  in  a  quarrel  with  Winchelsey,  Archbishop  of 
Canterbury,  which  was  prolonged  through  several  years,  and 
which  ended  in  1 297  by  a  compromise.  In  that  year  the  king 
needed  money  and  men  for  the  invasion  of  Flanders.  The  bar- 
on-, discontented  with  the  amount  of  power  the  king  had  cen- 
tered in  himself,  refused  t<>  follow  him,  and  the  clergy,  backed 
by  the  pope  and  led  by  the  archbishop,  refused  to  be  taxed. 
A-  the  ]>ri«'e  of  the  submission  of  both  orders,  Winchelsey  "1>- 
tained  a  confirmation  of  the  charters,  and  the  promulgal ion  of 
new  decrees  establishing  the  righl  of  the  people  t<>  determine 
all  questions  of  taxation.  This  confirmation  of  the  charters 
was  repeated  again  and  again, and  twice  a  year  the  charters 
were  to  be  read  aloud  in  the  cathedral  churches,  to  remind 
th^  people  of  their  political  rights  and  obligations. 

Tin-  closing  month-  of  Edward's  life  are  characteristic  of 
tin-  whole,  lb-  was  now  nearly  seventy  yearn  of  age,  and  his 
magnifioenl  physique  had  been  shattered  by  the  menial  and 


124  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

physical  strain  of  a  busy  life  in  camp  and  council  hall.  The 
government  which  he  had  inaugurated  in  Scotland  had  gone 
wrong.  Robert  Bruce,  a  grandson  of  the  Bruce  who  had 
claimed  the  crown  in  1290,  headed  a  conspiracy  to  emancipate 
the  nation.  By  combining  strength  with  stealth  he  overcame 
the  English  interest,  stabbing  with  his  own  hand  John 
Comyn,  the  late  regent,  and  being  crowned  King  of  Scots  at 
Scone,  in  March,  1306.  Around  him  gathered  the  elements 
which  had  made  Wallace's  rising  momentarily  successful; 
but  his  resources  were  small,  and  had  Edward  been  young 
and  vigorous  the  end  might  have  been  otherwise.  An  En- 
glish  army  beat  the  Bruce  and  drove  him  into  seclusion  in  the 
Highlands  ;  Edward  himself  hurried  north  to  assume  the 
direction  of  affairs,  but  his  infirmities  bore  him  down,  and 
on  July  7,  1307,  he  succumbed,  dying  at  Burgh-on-Sands, 
within  sight  of  the  Scottish  border.  Eleanor,  his  first  queen, 
whom  he  loved  devotedly,  had  died  seventeen  years  before, 
her  sole  surviving  son,  Edward,  being  Prince  of  Wales  and 
heir  to  the  crown  of  England. 

England  has  not  known  an  abler  sovereign  than  the  first 
Edward.  His  reign  was  not  destitute  of  great  men,  but  in 
history  he  towers  above  his  earls  and  bishops  as  he  over- 
topped them  in  life.  Strong  and  steadfast  in  every  crisis, 
living  his  motto,  "Keep  troth"  [Pactum  serva),  he  was  a 
genuine  national  leader,  a  real  king.  Men  have  called  him 
cruel,  but  his  "  massacre  of  the  Welsh  bards  "  is  a  falsehood, 
his  treatment  of  Wallace  and  the  Scots  was  in  his  eyes  just 
judgment  upon  oath-breakers,  and  his  expulsion  of  the  Jews 
from  the  kingdom  (1290)  was  in  answer  to  an  undoubted 
popular  demand. 

Edward  II.,  of  Carnarvon,  was  king  of  England  for  twenty 
years  (1307-1327).  It  was  a  gay  and  pleasure-loving  gentle- 
man of  twenty-three  who  succeeded  to  the  kingship  which 
his  hard-headed  father  had  given  his  life  to  strengthen.  The 
defect  in  the  system  was  immediately  apparent.     The  burden 


The  Pi  wn  \>. km  i   Kings.  125 

of  a  centralized  government,  which  the  older  Edward  had 
carried  easily  upon  hi>  sinewy  Bhoulders,  Bent  the  son  Btagger- 
ing  to  his  fall. 

Young  Edward's  devotion  t<>  a  Gascon  courtier,  Piers  (or 
Peter)  Gaveston,  was  the  first  cause  of  his  misfortunes.  The 
fid  kiiiLT  had  warned  his  sun  that  the  nobles  would  bejealous 
of  Piers,  and  before  his  death  he  had  banished  the  favorite, 
and  pledged  the  prince  not  to  recall  him  without  the  consent 
of  Parliament.  Hut  hi-  greal  father's  admonition  was  losl 
upon  the  flighty  young  king,  who  immediately  called  Gaves- 
ton t"  England,  made  him  earl  of  Cornwall,  and,  to  the 
disgust  <>f  tin-  English  nobility, left  this  earl  .of  a  day  regenl 
of  the  kingdom  while  he  went  to  France  to  claim  the  hand 
of  Isabella,  daughter  of  Philip  the  Fair.  King  and  queen 
w,  iv  crowned  together  (1308),  the  sovereign  swearing 'Mo 
keep  the  law  -  and  righteous  customs  which  the  community  of 
the  realm  shall  have  chosen,  and  to  defend  them  and  strengthen 
them  to  the  honor  of  God,  to  the  utmost  of  my  power." 

The  barons'  opposition  to  Gaveston  showed  itself  forth- 
with. The  Scottish  war  was  allowed  to  drop  out  of  sight, 
and  the  kim:  devoted  himself  to  the  protection  of  his 
unworthy  favorite.  Thomas,  Earl  of  Lancaster;  Henry  de 
Lacy,  Earl  of  Lincoln;  and  Guy  Beauchamp,  Earl  of  War- 
rick— the  proudest  barons  in  England — led  the  attack.     Two 

months  after  the  coronation  Piers  was  in  exile,  hut  the  -hit'ty 
k i 1 1 <_r  had  him  again  at  court  'he  following  Spring.  A  revo- 
lution followed.  The  Parliament  of  1310  took  the  govern- 
ment out  of  Edward's  hands  ami  gave  it  for  one  year  to  a 
commission  of  twenty-one  "  Ordainers."  The  "ordinan© 
proposed  by  this  body  in  1811  provided  for  the  banishmenl 
of  the  foreign  favorites,  and  tin'  limitation  of  the  king's 
authority  by  'l"'  barons  in  Parliament.  Edward  accepted 
these  law-,  hut  broke  them  at  the  first  opportunity.  The 
operated  earls  again  took  tin-  law  into  their  own  hands, 
captured  Gaveston,  and  the  earls  of  Warwick  and  Lancaster 


126  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

had  him  beheaded  in  June,  1312.  This  left  Thomas  of 
Lancaster  the  leading  man  in  the  kingdom.  The  king  was 
powerless. 

Edward  I.  used  his  last  breath  in  marching  into  Scotland 
to  chastise  Robert  Bruce.  The  accession  of  Edward  II.  was 
Scotland's  opportunity.  The  English  commanders  won  iso- 
lated successes,  but  no  comprehensive  plan  of  subjugation 
was  made  or  followed.  The  fugitive  Bruce,  encouraged,  says 
the  tale,  by  the  perseverance  of  a  spider,  spinning  and  re- 
spinning  its  torn  web,  resumed  his  efforts.  The  English 
garrisons,  left  unsupported,  surrendered  the  Lowland  castles, 
until  in  1314  Stirling,  the  only  English  stronghold  left,  was 
itself  at  the  point  of  yielding.  Edward  tried  to  relieve  the 
post,  but  his  army  had  no  confidence  in  his  military  ability, 
and  Bruce's  Scotchmen  beat  the  king's  knights  at  Bannock- 
burn,  June  24,  1314.  This  signal  victory  gave  Bruce  the 
absolute  soArereignty  of  Scotland.  The  earl  of  Lancaster  was 
now  almost  supreme  in  England,  but  his  use  of  his  high 
position  made  him  powerful  enemies.  The  weak  king,  crav- 
ing support,  adopted  Hugh  le  Despenser,  father  and  son, 
granting  them  such  wealth  and  honors  as  his  restricted 
means  allowed.  All  the  old  jealousy  of  Gaveston  was 
aroused  against  the  new  recipients  of  royal  favor.  The 
lords  assembled  in  Parliament  sentenced  the  two  Despensers 
to  forfeiture  and  exile  (1322).  The  king  nursed  his  chagrin 
for  a  few  months  and  then  broke  forth.  An  insult  offered  to 
his  queen  by  Lady  Badlesmere  furnished  a  pretext  for  rais- 
ing an  army;  and  once  at  the  head  of  troops  Edward  discov- 
ered some  of  his  father's  energy.  He  caught  at  the  chance 
to  rid  himself  of  Lancaster's  control.  The  roj^al  army  took 
the  earl  in  battle  at  Boroughbridge,  and  he  was  condemned 
and  executed  as  a  traitor,  though  the  English  people  gener- 
ally honored  him  as  a  saint.  The  victorious  king  clung  to 
the  Despensers,  and  annulled  the  ordinances  which  had  been 
forced  on  him  in  1311.     He  even  fought  a  campaign  against 


Tin:    Pi.ant.\'.i:m:t   Ki\'.s.  127 

ili«'  Unict'  which  ended  disastrously,  and  in  1323  a  truce  for 
thirteen  years  brought  peace  to  England  and  Scotland. 

Lancaster's  death  left  the  national  party  without  a  leader 
in  England,  and  for  a  few  months  the  Despensers  amassed 
wealth  unchallenged.  The  thunder-cloud  which  was  to  bias] 
them  gathered  on  the  eastern  Bhore  of  the  Channel.     The  ac> 

■dun  of  a  new  king  in  France,  Charles  IV.,  made  it  neces- 
sary fur  Edward  to  pay  feudal  homage  for  his  Bmall  conti- 
nental holdings.  But  hia  mentors  dared  not  trust  him  out  of 
their  hands,  nor  to  accompany  him,  for  England  would  rise 
in  their  absence,  and  there  was  mure  than  one  whetted  dag- 
ger for  them  in  the  French  court,  Bwarming  with  English  ex- 
iles. In  l :!_'.")  the  queen,  herself  a  French  princess,  went  over 
and  persuaded  her  husband  to  send  their  son  and  heir,  Prince 
Edward,  to  her.  Mother  and  son  straightway  turned  against 
the  kiii lt.     Roger  Mortimer,  an  English  lord  who  had  escaped 

Lancaster's  doom,  directed   operations,  and    hired    troops    for 

the  invasion  of  England.  They  landed  in  September,  1326, 
the  queen  proclaiming  herself  the  liberator  of  the  realm 
from  the  king's  false  counselors.  The  Londoners  joined  her, 
and  the  king,  after  a  weak  resistance,  abandoned  the  struggle. 
The  Despensers,  elder  and  younger,  died  on  the  gallows.  A 
Parliament  at  Westminster  (January,  l:{iiT)  declared  the 
king  faithless  and  unworthy  to  ride,  and  the  broken-spirited 
monarch  confessed  that  it  was  so.  lie  resigned  thecrownin 
favor  of  his  thirteen-year-old  sun,  Edward  of  Windsor,  whose 
mother,  guided  by  Roger  Mortimer,  reigned  until  the  death 
of  tin-  king.     The  ruined  monarch  was  confined  in  Berkeley 

castle,  where  hi'  \\;i>  1 1 ii 1 1< I <  i< ' < I  September  21,   1327. 


128  An  Outline  History  of  England. 


CHAPTER  VIII. 

ENGLAND  AND  FRANCE.     1327  A.  D.  -1422  A.  D. 

FROM  THE  ACCESSION   OF  EDWARD  III.   TO  THE  DEATH   OF  HENRY  V. 

The  reign  of  Edward  II.  had  come  to  a  wretched  end 
(1327) — the  Scots  plundering  the  northern  marches,  the 
French  trespassing  upon  the  English  continental  province, 
the  old  king  a  prisoner,  the  new  king  a  lad,  and  the  regency 
controlled  by  Queen  Isabella  and  the  outlawed  Roger  Morti- 
mer. The  regents  had  all  power,  but  small  wisdom  or  ability. 
They  made  peace  with  Scotland  (1328),  signing  away  at 
Northampton  whatever  feudal  rights  Edward  III.  might  have 
been  entitled  to  in  that  kingdom.  Scotland  was  free,  and 
Robert  Bruce  was  its  king. 

This  disgraceful  treaty  of  Northampton  aroused  the  En- 
glish nobles  against  Mortimer,  but  he  was  too  strongly  in- 
trenched in  the  government  to  be  dislodged  easily.  His 
destruction  came  when  least  expected.  Edward  was  eighteen 
years  of  age  in  1330 — old  enough  to  feel  keenly  the  shame 
of  the  situation.  By  a  secret  passage  he  made  entrance,  with 
an  armed  band  of  his  close  friends,  into  Mortimer's  presence 
in  Nottingham  castle,  and  seized  the  offender,  who,  once  be- 
reft of  authority,  was  quickly  sentenced  by  the  lords  in  Par- 
liament, and  hurried  to  a  traitor's  death  at  Tyburn.  The 
queen-mother  passed  the  remainder  of  her  life  in  retirement. 

Edward  III.  assumed  personal  direction  of  the  govern- 
ment. The  condition  of  Scotland  was  his  earliest  care.  The 
death  of  Robert  Bruce  left  the  throne  to  a  child,  and  Edward 
Balliol,  gathering  a  band  of  English  adventurers,  had  himself 
crowned  at  Scone,     His  renewal  of  the  allegiance  to  the  king 


England  and  F&ancb.  129 

of  England  losl  him  his  crown;  the  Scots  Mould  not  have 
him  ti>  reign  over  them.  Edward  of  England  foughl  man- 
fully t>>  reinstate  him,  bnl  succeeded  only  in  winning  the  Low- 
lands  and  the  border  city  of  Berwick.  When  the  outbreak 
of  war  between  France  and  England  called  off  the  English 
forces,  David  Bruce  redoubled  his  efforts  and  Scotland  was 
-",,n  liberated  under  his  Bcepter  (1342). 

The  war  between  England  and  France,  whose  din  drowned 
«>ut  the  petty  Scottish  campaigns,  was  the  famous  Hundred 
fears'  War,  which  lasted,  with  interruptions,  from  1330  to 
the  middle   of  the  fifteenth    century,  from    Edward    III.  to 

* 

Henry  VL  It  opened  with  the  claim  of  Edward  t<>  the 
crown  of  France :  at   its  close  Henry  was  master  of  the  sin- 

* 

gle  French  town  of  Calais.  The  waters  of  the  Channel  and 
the  fields  of  France  furnished  battle-grounds,  and  England 
wasnol  once  invaded  by  her  enemy,  though  their  allies,  the 
Scots,  did  break  over  the  northern  border.  The  struggle  ex- 
tended over  the  reign  of  five  English  kings, made  famous  the 
names  of  Edward  the  Black  Prince  and  Joan  of  Arc,  and 
included  the  Moodv  battles  of  ('n'ev,  Poil i(  is,  and  Agincourt. 
This  war,  continuing  through  four  generations,  did  much  to 
deepen  the  national  enmity  between  the  people  of  the  two 
kingdoms. 

The  fintl   Plantagenel   kings   held  wide    domains  in  France, 

acquired  by  inheritance  from  their  Norman  and  Angevin 
ancestors,  and  by  dowry  of  their  French  wives.  The  weak- 
ness of  John  had  let  most  of  these  lands  slip, and  tor  several 
reignS'previous  to  the  accession  of  Edward  III.     Aquitaine, 

in    southern    France,  with   a   narrow   COa8t-8trip  in  the  north, 

alone  remained.  Of  these  the  French  kings  were  covetous. 
They  had  designs,  moreover,  upon  the  Flemish  cities  Ghent, 
Antwerp, and  others,  whose  manufact  nres  of  wool  commended 
tbem  to  the  especial  favor  of  Bheep-raising  England.  With 
these  existing  grounds  of  hostility  little  was  needed  to  bring 

the    two   nation-    to    actual    uar.      Fduard  furnished    a    pre- 
6* 


130  An  Outlike  History  of  England. 

text.*  The  death  of  Charles  IV.  of  France  gave  him  some 
reason  for  asserting  his  right  to  the  vacant  throne,  for  Isa- 
bella, his  mother,  was  sister  of  the  late  king,  and  there  was  no 
direct  male  heir.  The  lawyers,  however,  declared  that  by  the 
law  of  the  Salic  Franks,  who  founded  French  royalty,  no 
female  might  wear  or  transmit  the  crown.  Edward  was  accord- 
ingly passed  over,  and  Philip  VI.  of  Valois  succeeded  peace- 
fully in  1328.  Seven  or  eight  years  later,  when  Philip  was 
crowding  in  upon  the  English  holdings,  and  aiding  the  Scots 
of  David  Bruce,  Edward  re-asserted  it  and  abandoned  the 
Scottish  war  for  this  greater  contest.  Such  European  alli- 
ances as  were  possible  he  made,  and  with  such  German  sol- 
diers as  he  could  buy  of  their  hireling  princes  he  recruited 
his  ranks.  In  the  great  sea-fight  off  Sluys,  in  June,  1340,  he 
won  the  first  of  his  French  successes,  and  indeed  the  brilliant 
record  of  the  royal  navy  has  few  more  terrible  triumphs. 

The  king's  son  Edward,  feared  in  France  and  loved  in 
England  as  the  Black  Prince,  was  the  hero  of  his  father's 
wars.  The  campaign  of  1346  was  his  first  in  the  field,  and 
on  August  26  he — a  youth  of  sixteen — commanded  the  right 
wing  of  his  father's  army  in  the  battle  of  Crecy.  Philip, 
with  a  superior  force,  made  the  attack.  There  was  a  striking 
difference  between  the  two  armies,  as  there  was  indeed  be- 
tween the  two  countries.    France  was  wealthy,  populous,  and 


'EDWARD'S    CLAIM    TO    THE    FRENCH    CROWN. 

(French  sovereigns  in  italic.) 
(1.)  PHILIP  III., 

THE  BOLD, 

reigned  1270-1285. 

i  I 

(2.)  PHILIP  IV.,  Charles, 

the  Fair.  Count  of  Valois. 


\~  I  I  (7.)  PHILIP  VI. 

(3.)  LOUIS  X.,  (5.)  PHILIP  V.,  (f>.)CHARLES  IV.,      Isabel,  of  Valois, 

d.  1316.  the  Tall,  the  Fair,     wife  of  Edward  II.    r.  1328-1350. 

(4.)  JOHN  I.,  d.  1322.  d.  1888.  of  England.  | 

d.  1316.  I  (8.)  JOHN  77"., 

(7.)  EDWARD  III.      the  Good, 
of  England.         r.  1350-1364. 


England  and  Fbance.  i;u 

in  the  full  flower  of  feudal  Bplendor,  and  the  men  who  foughl 
under  her  lily  banner  were  the  proud  barons  and  their  retain- 
an<l  mercenaries.  England  was  poor  in  purse  and  popu- 
lation, but  comparatively  free;  her  soldiers  were  the  stout 
yeomen  of  the  shires,  accustomed  to  draw  their  cloth-yard 
arrows  to  the  head,  and  learning  to  fight  for  their  country 
rather  than  for  a  feudal  lord.  On  this  day,  for  the  first  time 
in  history,  they  had  a  battery  of  field-cannon  for  use  againsl 
the  knights.     'The  battle  was  a  slaughter:  the  boy  Edward 

•  * 

fought  with  the  skill  and  bravery  of  a  veteran, 

Whilo  bis  most  mighty  father  on  a  hill 
Stood  smilinir.  to  behold  his  lion's  whelp 
.Forage  in  blood  of  French  nobility.* 

The  French  lost  1,200  knights  and  30,000  footmen,  more 
than  the  whole  English  army.  King  Philip  fled  in  dismay, 
and  King  Edward,  embracing  the  prince,  exclaimed,  "Fair 
son,  my  son  yon  are  in  truth,  for  loyally  have  you  acquitted 
yourself  to-day  ! " 

In  the  autumn  an  English  army  at  Neville's  Cross  routed 

the  Scottish  king,  David  Bruce,  whom  his  French  allies  had 

on  to  invade  England  in  the  absence  of  its  chid'  defender. 

In  France  tin-  English  power  widened  steadily  ;   after  a  year 

the  beleaguered  port  of  Calais  was  starved  into  surrender, 
[ts  stubborn  resistance  and  its  villainous  reputation  as  a  re- 
Bort  of  Channel  pirates  exasperated  the  king.  Edward  prom- 
ised i"  Bpare  the  people  if  bm  leading  citizens  should  give 
themselves  up  t<>  him.  Five  patriots  followed  Eustace  St. 
Pierre,  who  volunteered  to  he  the  first  of  the  -i\,  ami  the 
chroniclers  tell  touchingly  how  t  he  king's  fi<  rce  anger  melted 

under  the  warm  tear-  of  his  queen,  Philippa,  who  besought 
her  hud  t->  vh«.w  mercy  "for  the  Bake  of  the  merciful  Lord 
Christ."    So  the  Calais  people  went  scathless,  but  their  town 

did  not  <_".  free  until  tWO  centuries  later,  when  its  loBfl 
Stamped  its  name  upon  the  hard  heart  of  Queen   M.ir\. 

;   //•  in  i/   I'..  \<  t  I,  B06M  II. 


132  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

The  intercession  of  the  pope  brought  about  a  truce,  which 
both  countries  willingly  accepted.  But  in  1355  the  struggle 
was  renewed.  The  Black  Prince  sallied  forth  from  Aqui- 
taine,  pillaging  the  pleasant  country  of  central  France,  which 
had  never  known  the  sight  of  war.  The  amount  of  the 
plunder  was  enormous.  It  sufficed  to  fit  out  another  army 
in  the  following  year,  at  whose  head  the  prince  ravaged  the 
valley  of  the  Loire,  and  gained  the  road  to  Paris.  The  new 
king,  John,  called  "  the  Good,"  rallied  60,000  to  block  the 
way.  Edward,  with  8,000  English  and  Gascons,  was  en- 
trapped at  Poitiers,  and  offered  peace  and  a  restoration  of  his 
conquests  rather  than  to  risk  a  fight.  John  was  sure  of  his 
prey  and  scorned  the  terms.  The  battle  of  Poitiers  was  fought 
September  1 9, 1356.  By  a  reckless  attack  the  Frenchmen  threw 
away  the  advantage  of  superior  numbers;  and  the  skillful 
disposition  of  the  English  and  their  fierce  charges  won  the 
day  for  the  Black  Prince.  King  John  was  taken  captive 
and  was  exhibited  to  the  Londoners  in  the  triumphal  pro- 
cession, over  which  England  went  wild  with  enthusiasm  in 
the  spring  of  1357.  For  two  years  more  France  was  a  prey 
to  anarchy  and  Edward;  then  the  regents  consented  to  the 
treaty  of  Bretigny,  which  marked  the  close  of  the  first  stage 
of  the  long  war.  King  John  was  to  be  released  on  the  pay- 
ment of  3,000,000  crowns  in  gold.  King  Edward  renounced 
his  empty  claim  to  the  throne  of  France  and  the  duchy  of 
Normandy,  but  he  was  confirmed  in  the  possession  of  Aqui- 
taine,  Poitou,  Guisnes,  and  Calais,  and  it  is  to  be  noted  that 
he  held  these  lands  henceforth  independently  as  king  of 
England,  not  as  a  vassal  of  France  like  his  predecessors. 

The  peace  of  Bretigny  was  unbroken  for  nine  years.  The 
Black  Prince  remained  on  the  Continent  as  duke  of  Aqui- 
taine,  but  his  ambitious  spirit  could  not  be  bridled.  Since 
his  own  province  was  quiet  he  sought  activity  elsewhere. 
The  Spanish  kingdoms  were  broiling  in  civil  war.  Dom 
Pedro   the    Cruel,    of   Castile,   found   an    able    ally    in   the 


England  and  France.  ]:!••> 

English  hero,  who  won  for  him  the  battle  of  Navarete  (1367), 
an<l  replaced  him  upon  his  throne.  The  expenses  of  this 
campaign  were  a  burden  on  Aquitaine,  and  the  emissaries  of 
the  French  passed  m  and  «>ut  among  the  people  inciting  them 
to  rebellion.  In  1369  France  and  England  grappled  again, 
but  young  Edward  had  won  his  last  greal  hat  tic.  Broken 
in  health,  despairing  of  his  own  succession,  and  fearful  lot 
his  brothers  should  bar  his  son  Richard  from  the  throne,  Ids 
old  energy  was  turned  into  impatience  and  cruelty.  His 
capture  of  Limoges  was  disgraced  by  a  bloody  massacre,  hut 
he  made  no  conquests — indeed,  he  did  not  hold  his  own — 
and  soon  his  sickness  and  the  interests  of  his  son  Richard 
recalled  him  to  England.  I  lis  brother,  John,  Dake  of  Lan- 
caster, famous  from  his  Flemish  birthplace  as  "John  of 
Gaunt"  (Ghent),  led  an  English  army  into  France,  hut  the 
French  king's  Fabian  policy  exhausted  the  English  treasury 
and  prevented  a  decisive  battle.  John  accomplished  noth- 
ing. City  after  city  of  Aquitaine  admitted  French  garrisons, 
and  by  the  end  of  1371  only  two  important  towns,  Bordeaux 
ami  Bayonne,  remained  to  England  of  all  her  wide  realm  in 
southern  France.  Within  fifteen  years  the  results  of  Cre'cy 
and  Poitiers  ]i;l,]  vanished,  and  the  bloody  campaigns  of  the 
Black  Prime  had  produced  nothing  hut  misery  and  lasting 
hatred  between  England  ami  France-. 

The  rei-_rii  of  the  third  Edward  has  other  claims  to  atten- 
tion a-  important  as  the  French  wars.  Within  this  period 
of  fifty  years  Parliament  acquired  the  form  which  it 
still  wear-.  There  was  a  time  when  it-  four  orders— the 
clergy,  barons,  knights,  and  citizens — met  separately,  each 
considering  the  matter  of  especial  interesl  to  their  order. 
But  after  the  Parliament  of  i:;ii  the  prelates  of  the  Church 
and  the  specially  summoned  barons  or  "peers"  met  as  one 
body,  while  the  elected  members,  both  the  knight-  of  the 
shires  ami  the  borough  or  town  representatives,  met  as 
another.     So  arosethe  Houses  of  Lords  and  (ominous. 


134  Ax  Outline  History  op  England. 

Three  times  within  this  reign  the  kingdom  was  swept  by 
a  murderous  disease.  In  1348,  1361,  and  1369  the  "  Black 
Death  "  appeared  in  the  English  towns,  and  from  them  spread 
through  the  kingdom.  No  pestilence  of  modern  times  can 
be  compared  to  it  for  destructiveness.  More  than  one  half 
of  the  three  or  four  million  inhabitants  of  England  are  known 
to  have  perished.  Such  a  diminution  of  the  population  had 
a  deep  influence  upon  society,  and  particularly  upon  the 
condition  of  the  laboring  classes,  as  the  troubles  of  the  next 
reign  indicate. 

The  plague  and  the  wars  with  France  told  terribly  upon 
the  strength  of  England.  All  classes  suffered,  but  the  clergy 
least  of  all.  Their  lands  and  houses,  constituting  a  large 
share  of  the  best  property  in  England,  were  free  from 
ordinary  taxation,  and  their  prelates  and  dependents  had 
not  to  offer  themselves  as  targets  for  French  bowmen.  The 
jealous  baronage,  led  by  John,  Duke  of  Lancaster,  attacked 
the  privileges  of  this  class.  John,  a  younger  brother  of  the 
Black  Prince,  was  ambitious,  tyrannous,  and  cruel.  In  his 
father's  later  life  he  gained  control  at  court  and  filled  the 
high  offices  with  laymen,  ousting  the  bishops  and  abbots 
whom  the  king  had  raised  to  these  positions.  The  incom- 
petence of  the  new  men  and  the  failure  of  the  French  cam- 
paigns brought  about  an  alliance  of  the  clergy  under  William 
of  Wykeham  and  the  commons.  The  last  act  of  the  Black 
Prince  was  to  side  with  the  people  against  his  brother.  In 
the  Parliament  of  1376  the  commons  had  the  audacity  to  pro- 
test against  John's  extravagance  and  mismanagement ;  for 
the  first  time  in  English  history  two  of  the  royal  ministers 
were  accused,  convicted,  and  condemned  ;  the  court  was 
purged  of  its  unpopular  courtiers,  and  Alice  Perrers,  the 
favorite  of  the  king,  was  banished.  These  and  other  re- 
forms won  for  this  Parliament  the  designation  "  the  Good/' 
No  sooner  was  it  dissolved  than  John  of  Gaunt  resumed 
control,  reversed  its  enactments,  restored  the  favorites,  and 


England   lnd  Fb  w<  e.  185 

made  ;i  fresh  assault  <>n  'N'V' ill i.-i tii  of  Wykeham  and  the 
clergy.  Prince  Edward  died  June  B,  L 3 76,  and  Parliament 
acknowledged  the  succession  <>l"  his  little  son,  Richard.  In 
June  of  the  following  year  died  Edward  the  Third. 

The  intense  hatred  of  Frenchmen  which  pervaded  En- 
gland  in  this  century  had  one  permanenl  effect.  Until  now 
it  had  been  doubtful  what  language  would  prevail  in  the 
British  Islands.  Caesar  had  found  a  Celtic  dialect  there, and 
had  introduced  the  Latin  tongue.  'The  Anglo-Saxon  migra- 
tion had  driven  the  Celtic  people  into  Wales  and  Scotland, 
and  had  established  the  Anglo-Saxon,  or  old  English,  Language 
bo  Crmly  that  the  great  infusion  of  Danes  among  the  people  of 
the  islands  left  but  an  inappreciable  number  of  Danish  words. 
The  Norman  Conquest  in  the  eleventh  century  brought  in  the 
French  language,  and  made  it  the  common  speech  of  the 
court  and  the  aristocracy  throughout  the  time  of  the  Nor- 
man and  Angevin  sovereigns,  while  the  Latin,  now  corrupted 
and  fallen  from  the  classical  standards,  was  the  language  of 
the  Church  and  literature.  Beneath  this  Norman-French 
upper-crust  the  masses  of  peasantry  and  common  people 
clung  to  their  English  mother-tongue.  Its  disuse  by  learned 
men  Buffered  it  to  pass  through  many  changes,  and  the  Anglo- 
Saxon  of  Bang  Alfred's  time  would  not  be  intelligible  to  the 
Englishman  of  the  time  of  Edward  III.  By  the  close  of  the 
fourteenth  century  it  had  changed  in  form  and  substance,  and 
it-  vocabulary  had  been  largely  swollen  by  words  from  the 
French  and  Latin.  No  important  hooks  had  until  now  been 
written  in  this  dialect,  which  was  ridiculed  by  the  upper 
classes.  But  the  Hundred  Years'  War  made  all  things  French 
still  more  obnoxious.  English  began  to  displace  other 
tongues  in  the  Bchools  ;  in  L 362  courts  of  law  began  to  use 
English,  "because  French  had  become  unknown."  William 
Langland,  who  wrote  a  homelj  poem,  "The  Vision  of  Piers 
Plowman,"  wrote  in  English,  that  it  might  be  more  widely 
read.     The    poet    Gower,  and    his   contemporary,   Chaucer, 


lt!G  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

who  died  in  1400,  used  the  common  country  speech  for  their 
compositions.  Chaucer's  Canterbury  Tales,  and  the  prose 
pamphlets  and  translated  Bible  of  John  Wiclif  practically 
settled  the  question  that  the  new  English  should  be  spoken 
and  written  by  Englishmen. 

John  Wiclif,  sometimes  called  the  first  Protestant, 
was  educated  for  the  Catholic  priesthood,  attained  great 
learning,  and  became  a  famous  teacher  in  Oxford  Univer- 
sity. His  study  of  the  Scriptures  convinced  him  that  the 
Romish  Church  in  England  was  not  performing  its  proper 
work.  Its  clergy  should  preach  the  Gospel  and  lead  Christ- 
like lives  ;  he  found  them  amassing  fortunes,  misusing  the 
ecclesiastical  courts,  and  seeking  temporal  rather  than 
spiritual  influence.  To  inculcate  his  own  doctrines  he  sent 
out  "  poor  preachers,"  clad  in  russet  gowns,  to  labor  among 
the  lowly.  His  active  mind  did  not  stoj)  at  this  reform  ;  he 
denied  the  right  of  the  pope  to  levy  taxes  upon  England. 
The  tribute  which  King  John  had  pledged  his  kingdom  to 
pay  was  thirty-three  years  in  arrears,  and  Parliament  boldly 
refused  to  pay  it  more.  "Wiclif  applauded  and  defended 
this  defiance  of  Rome.  John  of  Gaunt,  in  his  quarrel  with 
William  of  AVykeham  and  the  clergy,  was  thus  brought  for 
a  time  into  sympathy  with  AViclif,  and  protected  him 
from  the  archbishop's  condemnation  for  heresy.  Repudia- 
tion of  the  worldly  ambition  of  the  Church  led  the  free- 
thinking  priest  to  an  examination  of  its  doctrines,  and  thence 
to  his  denial  (1381)  of  the  dogma  of  "  Transubstanti;ition." 
To  explain  his  position  he  wrote  a  host  of  tracts,  in  English, 
copies  of  which,  even  before  the  invention  of  printing,  made 
their  way  among  the  people,  and  helped  the  "  poor  preach- 
ers "  to  found  the  Christian  sect  called  "  Lollards  "  (meaning 
psalm-singers),  the  forerunners  of  the  English  reformation. 
Wiclif  died  in  retirement  as  parish  priest  of  Lutterworth, 
his  later  years  being  devoted  to  his  grandest  work,  the 
translation    of  the  Bible  into    the   tongue   of  the   common 


England  am»  France.  "13  7 

people  of  England.  He  died  on  the  last  day  of  the  year  138  i. 
reckoned  a  great  man  in  his  own  day,  and  now  esteemed 
among  the  first  men  of  Christendom. 

Several  Bons  of  King  Edward  III.  grew  to  manhood:  (1) 
Edward,  the  Black  Prince,  who  died  just  before  his  father, 
leaving  a  son,  Prince  Richard;  (2)  Lionel,  Duke  of  Clar- 
ence (the  poet  Chaucer's  patron),  who  died  in  1368,  leaving 
a  daughter,  Philippa,  the  ancestress  of  the  earls  of  March  ; 
(8)  John  "of  Gaunt,"  Duke  of  Lancaster,  the  ancestor  of 
the  Lancastrian  kings  ;  (4)  Edmund  of  Langley,  Duke  of 
Fork,  from  whose  line  sprang  the  Yorkist  kings  in  the  next 
Century,  and  (."))  the  Duke  of  Gloucester. 

Richard  II.  ascended  the  throne  at  the  age  of  eleven  (1377), 
his  uncle  of  Gaunt  being  in  the  prime  of  life.  England 
was  in  miserable  condition,  resulting  from  the  war-taxation 
and  the  ravages  of  the  plague.  Moreover,  the  people,  of 
whom  lit  tie  has  yel  been  said,  were  fairly  astir.  The  three 
Edwards  had  brought  the  nation  to  a  consciousness  of  its 
unity  ami  its  independence  <>t'  any  foreign  power;  the 
development  of  Parliament  had  admitted  a  new  das-  t . .  a 
-hare  in  the  government,  and  the  spirit  of  Wiclif  and  his 
Lollards  was  invading  the  Btolid  country-folk,  and  teaching 
them  to  test  for  themselves  their  social  and  political  system. 

A  change  had  in  due  course  come  over  th< ndition  of  the 

lower   classes.      Slavery  no    longer   existed,  and    serfage    ami 

villeinage  in  its  various  forms  had  nearly  passed  away.  The 
serf,  or  villein  (who  had  lived  upon  his  master's  land  in  re- 
turn   for    certain    labor   performed),  had   been    released   from 

this  obligation,  and  now  paid  a  certain  compensation  in  cash 
or  kind  for  his  holding,  in  place  of  the  old  manual  labor.  The 
Black  Death  appeared  at  the  time  when  many  villeins  were 

winning,  and  many  thought  they  had  already  won,  their  free- 
dom from  this  degrading  service.  The  great  land-owners 
saw  their  laborers  <\\  ing  off  like  Bheep.  There  u  a-  no  one  left 
to  tend   the  Bocks  or  reap  the  grain,  which  rotted  in  the 


138  An  Outline  History  or  England. 

field.  To  secure  herdsmen  and  harvesters  the  land-owners 
obtained  from  king  and  Parliament,  in  the  years  following  the 
plague,  certain  "Statutes  of  Laborers,"  requiring  all  landless 
men  and  women  to  work  at  a  fixed  low  wage  for  any  employer 
who  should  demand  their  service;  and  the  laborer  was  forbid- 
den to  leave  his  parish  in  search  of  better  employment. 

The  proprietors,  at  their  wit's  end  for  labor,  re-asserted 
their  claims  upon  those  villeins  and  serfs  who  had  gained  at 
least  partial  freedom.  The  sons  and  grandsons  of  freedmen 
were  hauled  before  the  justices,  and  compelled  to  serve  the 
family  to  which  their  ancestors  had  been  bound.  Wide- 
spread discontent  and  frequent  local  outbreaks  mark  the 
history  of  these  days.  The  protest  of  Wiclif  against  the 
wealth  of  the  Church  was  taken  up  by  his  disciples  and 
forced  to  its  full  extent.  Socialistic  ideas  circulated  among 
the  hard-working  peasants,  who  saw  the  nobles  and  bishops 
gorgeously  arrayed,  while  their  tenants  perished  with  hun- 
ger. John  Ball,  "  a  mad  priest,"  as  a  courtier  called  him, 
seemed  sane  enough  to  the  crowds  of  Kentishmen  who 
listened  to  his  sermons.  Equality  was  his  gospel,  commu- 
nity of  property  the  burden  of  his  homilies.  "When  Adam 
delved,  and  Eve  span,  who  was  then  the  gentleman  ?  "  was  a 
text  with  which  he  roused  the  jealousy  and  envy  of  his 
countrymen  against  the  aristocrats. 

In  1380  Parliament  levied  a  poll-tax  on  all  Englishmen, 
and  the  next  summer  the  poor  farmers  and  artisans,  excited 
by  the  injustice  which  they  had  suffered,  broke  out  in  the 
rebellion  known  as  the  "  peasant  revolt."  Easily  remem- 
bered jingles  in  the  common  country-people's  English  passed 
from  mouth  to  mouth,  giving  the  signals  for  the  rising,  and 
it  seemed  as  if  the  whole  nation  had  risen  in  one  day.  Wat 
Tyler  and  John  Hales,  with  100,000  Kentish  farm-hands  at 
their  backs,  marched  into  Canterbury  and  dismantled  the 
archbishop's  palace,  seized  London,  burning  John  of  Gaunt's 
"Savoy  house,"  and  breaking  into  the  Tower,  and  killing  the 


l'.N'.l    \\H     AM'     1'kam   k.  139 

archbishop  and  the  pull-tax  commissioner.  On  tho  north 
bank  of  the  Thames  was  another  host,  from  Essex,  bent  <>n 
the  Bame  mischief,  killing  lawyers  and  burning  deeds,  char- 
ters, and  law-papers  as  they  advanced.  King  Richard,  a 
oonrageona  lad  of  fifteen,  fronted  the  Essex  men  and  sent 
them  home  with  promises  thai  Berfage  should  exisl  no  more. 
Two  days  afterward  Richard  dealt  with  Wat  Tyler's  men  at 
Smithfield.  The  lord  mayor  stabbed  the  peasant  leader  for 
insulting  his  king,  and  Richard  proclaimed  himself  captain 
of  the  rioters.  They  heard  with  joy  his  plejdgea  of  redress, 
and  then  dispersed.  Little  did  the  insurrection  profit.  The 
king  and  nobles  raised  armies,  and  stamped  it  ont  without 
mercy;  seven  thousand  of  the  poor  peasantry  were  put  to  the 
sword  or  sent  to  the  gallows  before  autumn.  Parliament  at 
it*  Hi -\t  session,  a  Parliament  wherein  sat  scarcely  a  man 
(save  the  borough  members)  who  was  not  a  Landlord, de- 
clared that  the  king  had  no  power  or  right  to  fulfill  his 
promises  to  give  away   their  property.     So  villeinage   and 

serfage    remained  lawful,  but   the   natural    causes  which   had 

been  at  work  before  the  pestilences i   revived,  and  by   a 

rapid  and  peaceful  revolution  free  labor  took  the  place  of  the 
ancient  form. 

Although  Richard  played  such  a  prominent  part  in  the 
suppression  of  the  peasant-rising,  be  left  the  government 
to  hU  uncle-,  the  'lnkcs  of  Lancaster  and  Gloucester,  for 
eight  years  afterward.  Their  rule  was  inefficient.  They 
jed  a  fruitless  war  with  France  and  Spain,  spending  the 
money  and  Btrength  of  the  nation  and  winning  nothing. 
The  king's  party,  led  by  the  earl  of  Suffolk,  strove  vainly  to 
rturn  the  regency,  but  Gloucester^  "merciless  Parlia- 
ment" of  1888  exiled  or  executed  the  counselors  of  the 
young  king.  The  nexl  year  the  vane  of  fortune  Bwung 
round,  Richard  secured  the  rein-  of  power  in  bis  own  bands, 
and   for  eight  guided   the   nation   steadily   and    well, 

making  peace  with   France,  establishing  the  semblance  of 


140  An  Outleste  History  of  England., 

order  in  Ireland,  and  real  prosperity  at  liome.  But  this  era 
of  good  government  was  a  preparation  for  such  faithlessness 
as  he  had  exhibited  to  Wat  Tyler's  rebels.  In  1397,  having 
divided  his  uncles,  Lancaster  and  Gloucester,  and  gained 
the  support  of  the  former,  he  threw  off  his  disguise, 
punished  his  enemies,  and  grasped  at  absolute  power. 
Gloucester  died  in  prison  ;  of  his  friends  the  Arundels,  the 
carl  was  beheaded,  and  his  brother,  the  archbishop,  banished. 
A  submissive  Parliament,  awed  by  the  king,  or  in  his  pay, 
consented  to  these  tyrannies,  granted  him  a  life  revenue,  and 
appointed  a  commission  of  eighteen  men  to  act  in  the  place 
of  a  Parliament.  Parliament  was  dissolved,  and  the  king, 
co-operating  with  this  small  executive  committee,  entered 
upon  a  career  of  absolutism  that  soon  wrought  his  ruin. 

Richard  ruled  henceforth  with  little  respect  for  the  rights  of 
nobles,  clergy,  or  commoners.  To  rid  himself  of  two  dangerous 
lords,  Thomas  Mowbray,  Duke  of  Norfolk,  and  tlie  ambitious 
Henry  of  Bolingbroke,  Duke  of  Hereford,  he  banished  them 
from  the  country  (1398).  A  few  months  later  old  John 
of  Gaunt  died,  and  his  son,  the  exiled  Henry  Bolingbroke, 
Bucceeded  to  his  title,  duke  of  Lancaster,  though  the  king 
kept  John's  rich  estates  for  his  own  use.  Henry  complained 
of  this  injustice  and  set  about  to  recover  his  lights.  The 
king,  his  cousin,  was  absent  in  Ireland  when  Bolingbroke 
landed  in  Yorkshire  (1399)  with  other  exiles,  who  made  com- 
mon cause  against  the  tyrant.  The  nobles  of  the  north,  Percy 
of  Northumberland  and  Neville  of  Westmoreland,  joined 
Henry.  His  uncle  Edmund,  Duke  of  York,  regent  for  Richard, 
turned  from  the  setting  to  the  rising  sun.  Upon  the  king's 
return  he  found  himself  defenseless  in  the  presence  of  a  great 
army.  No  one  would  fight  for  the  tyrant,  all  men  flocked 
to  the  Lancastrian  standard.  Henry  at  first  demanded  his  own 
inheritance  and  a  share  in  the  kingdom;  but  this  did  not  long 
appease  his  appetite  for  power.  A  Parliament  at  West- 
minster declared  the  king  incapable  of  reigning,  and  decreed 


England    AM>    l'i:W   I  .  Ill 

his  deposition.  The  nearest  heir  in  direcl  descent  was  the 
boy  Edmund  Mortimer,  great-grandson  of  Lionel,  Duke  of 
Clarence,  an  elder  brother  of  John  of  Gaunt.  But  his  tender 
years  and  few  friends  defrauded  him  of  a  hearing,  when  the 
victorious  Henry  of  Bolingbroke,  uow  in  his  forty-fourth  year, 
demanded  the  crown  by  right  of  descent,  and  l>y  right  of  re- 
covery from  tin-  evil  government  of  Richard.  Parliament 
accepted  Henry  as  the  lawful  sovereign.  The  wretched  Rich- 
ard  was  imprisoned  in  the  castle  of  Pontefract,  where  not 
long  after  he  died,  or  was  murdered.  IK'  was  the  eighth  and 
last  of   the  Angevin  kings  in  the  direct  line.      The  House  of 

Plantagenet  now  divides  among  the  descendants  of  Edward 
DLL's  younger  sons,  the  dukes  of  Lancaster  and  York.  It  v*  as 
in  Richard's  reign  that  the  statute  of  Pramunire,  originally 
framed  in  Edward  HI.'s  time,  was  re-enacted.  This  was  one 
of  the  twists  by  which* England  shook  off  the  hand  of  the 
pope.  This  law  made  it  a  grave  crime  for  any  person  to 
bring  into  England  any  hull  or  letter  of  excommunication 
from  the  pope  without  the  consent  of  the  king. 

Henry  IV.*  (1399-1413)  was  the  first  of  the  Lancastrian 
knurs,  ami  as  he  had  hi-  own  right  to  the  throne  to  vindicate 
In-  could  afford  neither  idleness  nor  oppression.  He  was  under 

obligation  to  the  northern  Qobles,  who  had  helped  him  to  win 

the  crown,  and  to  the  archbishop,  who  had  pul  it  on  his  head. 
Kut  the  friendship  with  the  Percys  Boon  tinned  t<>  open  war. 
The  earl  of  Northumberland,  with  hi-  -on,  Harry  Percy, 
called  "  Hotspur,"  from  his  dashing  border  raids,  had  expended 

THE    DESCENT   OF    HENRY    IV 

t  DWABD  III. 


i 1  i 

,ni               .mi.          Lionel,              John  Edmund 

no  l:i.\<  k  Prix)  >.          m  ki  m  i  i  lbenck.  '•'  Gaunl  •  Kate  "f  Laos 

u.  :  II  Bwynford.  in  ki  hi  Yukk. 

House  of      in.Mtv  iv. 
itn  it  Mtn  II  .  iner.     Bo  lino  broke,  The  House   The  Hi 

,1.  ;•                                                                  r.  1890-1418.         •■!  fork. 
Ben  ■  i\ .                                                 I                  ■  f<<rt . 

'I'll.'  House  •■! 

IJUK  UMi-l. 


142  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

blood  and  treasure  in  guarding  the  frontier  against  the  Scots. 
For  this  the  king  did  not  reward  them.  Harry  Percy  had  mar- 
ried into  the  family  of  the  Mortimers,  and  thus  become  related 
to  Edmund  Mortimer,  Earl  of  March,  already  mentioned  as 
Richard's  lawful  heir.  Wales  revolted  in  1400  under  Owen 
Glendower,  who  claimed  descent  from  the  old  Celtic  stock. 
Hotspur,  Mortimer,  and  Glendower  leagued  against  the  king, 
and  were  beaten  by  him  near  Shrewsbury,  in  1403,  where 
young  Percy  lost  his  life.  His  father  continued  in  revolt  for 
several  years.  Glendower  retreated  to  the  strongholds  of 
the  Welsh  mountains,  and  resisted  the  English  until  his  death 
(1410). 

If  the  king,  as  the  Percys  charged,  broke  faith  with  the 
barons,  he  kept  it  with  the  bishops.  The  lords  of  the  Church 
could  not  disregard  the  practical  tendency  of  the  Wiclifite 
doctrines.  Little  as  the  abbots  and  deans  may  have  cared  for 
purity  of  doctrine,  they  had  a  very  sensitive  regard  for  the 
rights  of  property,  which  were  recklessly  assailed  by  the  level- 
ing Lollards.  The  first  year  of  the  fifteenth  century  (1401) 
is  memorable  for  the  passage  of  a  Statute  of  Heresy.  King 
Henry  had  already  urged  the  regular  clergy  to  put  a  stop  to  the 
preaching  of  the  "simple  priests"  of  Wiclif's  sect.  This  act 
of  Parliament  gave  the  Church  authority  to  arrest  heretical 
preachers,  teachers,  and  writers,  to  imprison  them,  and,  on 
their  persistent  refusal  to  abjure  their  errors,  to  burn  them 
alive  in  a  public  place,  that  the  people  might  see  and  be  ad- 
monished. The  bishops  were  eager  to  begin  their  persecu- 
tion. William  Sautre  and  John  Badby,  a  priest  and  a  lay- 
man of  Lynn,  were  the  first  martyrs  of  the  reign — the  leaders 
in  a  procession  of  Englishmen,  Catholic  and  Protestant, 
who  furnished  food  for  persecuting  flames  for  two  centuries. 

Henry's  reign  was  brief  and  full  of  trouble.  On  May  20, 
1414,  he  died  in  the  Jerusalem  Chamber  of  Westminster 
Abbey,  leaving  his  kingdom  to  his  son,  Prince  Hal,  who  cuts 
a  merry  figure  with  Sir  John  Falstaff  in  Shakespeare's  play 


England   and  F*ran<  i  .  14M 

of  Henry  TV.  Henry  V.  of  Monmouth  (1413-1422)  had 
been  a  main-stay  of  his  father's  reign,  and  the  stories  which 
tell  "t"  his  youthful  roisterings  can  Bcarcely  resl  on  Bolid  foun- 
dations. He  was  twenty-five  years  old  at  the  time  of  his 
father's  death,  and  had  already  approved  himself  a  Boldier  in 
the  war  with  Wales.  Comely  of  face  and  figure,  brave 
and  skillful  in  w  ar,  and  ambitious  to  restore  the  military  rep- 
utation of  England,  Harry  of  Monmouth  became  a  popular 
hero  like  Richard  Lion-heart  and  Edward  the  Black  Prince, 
and  the  exploits  of  Richard  in  Palestine,  and  <>f  Edward  at 
Crecy  and  Poitiers,  are  matched  l>v  Henry's  deeds  at  Agin- 
court. 

The  Lollards  troubled  the  tirst  months  <>t'  the  reign.  Sir 
John  Oldcastle,  Lord  Cobham,  an  able  soldier,  a  friend  of 
the  king,  and  a  leading  man  in  the  realm,  turned  Wiclifite, 
and  tried  to  protect  his  fellow-believers.  He  was  denounced 
as  a  traitorous  demagogue,  and  sonic  of  his  actions  per- 
suaded Henry  thai  he  was  plotting  the  destruction  of  the 
king  and  the  chief  men  of  the  council.  Cobham  was  taken 
ami  burned,  and  many  Lollards  perished  with  him. 

N    nly  tie-  entire  reign  of  Henry  Y.  was  occupied  by  his 

campaigns  in  Fiance.      His  conquests  mark  the  second  period 

of  the  Hundred  Year-'  War.  Since  the  peace  of  Bretigny 
was  broken  there  had  been  no  serious  fighting  between  the 
two  nations,  though  there  had  been  as  little  settled  peace. 
At  Henry's   accession   France  was  plunged   in   a  civil  war. 

1  C> 

The  king, Charles  VI..  was  insane,  ami  his  nobles  were  fight- 
ing for  the  mastery  of  the  government.     Henry  immediately 

•  rted  hi-  claim  to  the  French  crown,  basing  his  demands 
upon  the  right  of  his  grandfather,  Edward  HI.  That  he 
had  not  the  shadow  oi  justice  mi  his  Bide  is  evident,  but 
ambition  he  had  ami  wonderful  ability. 

Before  lie  -ailed  from  England  he  had  discovered  and 
crushed  a  conspiracy  to  dethrone  bim  in  favor  of  his  cousin, 
Kdmniid    Mortimer.      In     lii">    he   crossed    to   Calais   with 


144  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

an  army,  intending  to  engage  in  turn  with  the  contending 
factions.  But  at  his  approach  contention  ceased,  and  it  was^ 
a  united  host  far  greater  than  his  own  which  faced  his  how- 
men  at  Agincourt,  October  25,  1415.  His  peril  was  greater 
than  that  of  Edward  at  Poitiers,  for  his  men  were  sick  and 
starving,  and  the  enemy  awaited  his  charge  instead  of  forfeit- 
ing their  advantage  bv  making  the  attack.  The  words  which 
Shakespeare  puts  in  Henry's  mouth  on  the  battle-field  are 
much  like  those  which  the  king  really  spoke.  Before  the 
combat  the  earl  of  Westmoreland  had  wished  that  some  of 
England's  idle  warriors  might  be  in  their  ranks.     Not  so  the 

king  : 

"No,  my  fair  cousin: 
If  we  are  marked  to  die,  we  are  enow 
To  do  our  country  loss;  and  if  to  live, 
The  fewer  men  the' greater  share  of  honor. 
God's  will!     I  pray  thee  wish  not  one  man  more." 

The  battle  was  long  and  stubbornlv  contested.  But  at 
Agincourt,  as  at  Crecy,  no  weapon  could  withstand  the  cloth- 
yard  shafts  from  the  English  long-bows.  King  Henry  fought 
in  the  thick  of  the  battle,  and  had  his  helmet  split  open  by  a 
French  sword.  His  intrepid  courage  inspired  his  men  to  ex- 
ploits almost  beyond  belief,  and  the  sun  set  upon  a  plain 
strewn  with  11,000  French  corpses.  The  English  had  won 
the  field. 

They  had  won  scarcely  more.  The  victorious  army  was 
so  small  and  so  ill  provisioned  that  it  was  folly  to  continue  the 
campaign.  The  king  went  home  to  England.  In  1417  he  re- 
turned with  well-digested  plans  for  the  conquest  of  Normandy, 
and  a  strong  force  to  carry  them  into  execution.  In  two 
masterly  campaigns  he  had  won  back  the  chief  towns  and 
castles  of  this  fair  ducliy,  when  a  sudden  turn  in  French 
politics  threw  open  the  doors  to  a  more  splendid  triumph. 
Duke  John  of  Burgundy,  the  most  powerful  noble  in  France, 
was  murdered  by  the  part}'  of  the  Dauphin  Charles,  son  and 


K\'.I  LSD    ami    Fran*  r.  1  1") 

heir  of  the  lunatic  king,  Charles  VI.      John's  revengeful  son 
and  ssor,  Philip  "le  Bon,"  master  of  the  king's  person 

and  household,  betrayed   his  country  to   King  Henry.     By 

«  i  *  * 

aty  of  Troyes  (1420)   Henry  of   England  was  made 

1'  ance  during  the  life  i      I      tries  VI.  and  heir  to 

the  French  crown  at  his  death.     Tocement  the  union  Henry 

took  Catharine,  the  princess-royal,  to   wife.      The  country 

th  of  the  Loire  owned  him  as  regent,  but  in  the  southern 

provinces  the  disinherited   Dauphin    Charles  maintained  a 

longed  hut  ineffectual  struggle  for  his  rights.      At    King 

Henry's  death  (August,  14*22)  his  son,  a  babe  of  nine  monl 

was  acknowledged  King  Henry  VI.  of  England  and  heir  of 

i      rice.      Two  months  later  the  mad  Charles  died  also,  and 

the  baby  king  of  England  was    formally  proclaimed   king 

France.     In  hi>  will  Henry  V.  named  his  two  brothers, 

Thomas,  Duke  of" Gloucester,  and  John,  Duke  of  Bedford, 

nts  of  England  and  France  respectively, 

— 


146  An  Outline  Histoky  of  England. 


CHAPTER  IX. 

LANCASTER  AND  YORK.     1422  A.  D.- 1485  A.  D. 

FROM   THE   ACCESSION    OF    HENRY   VI.    TO   THE    DEPOSITION   OF   RICHARD   III. 

Tup:  enormous  power  which  Henry  V.  had  wielded  was 
jeopardized  by  his  death.  Even  the  arrangements  which  he 
had  made  for  the  management  of  the  two  kingdoms  were 
not  fully  respected.  John,  Duke  of  Bedford,  was  allowed  to 
retain  the  regency  of  France  and  to  continue  his.  brother's 
struggle  with  the  Dauphin,  hut  the  other  brother,  Gloucester, 
was  intrusted  with  the  empty  honor  of  "protector,"  the 
government  of  England  being  really  conducted  by  a  council 
of  lords — Church  and  lay — directed  by  Gaunt's  son,  Henry 
Beaufort,  Bishop  of  Winchester.  Parliament  retained  little 
influence  in  the  realm,  and  the  commons  almost  none.  The 
baronage  had  grown  rich  from  the  plunder  of  France,  and 
the  Church  from  the  taxes  of  England.  Through  their 
representatives  in  the  council  these  two  classes  exercised 
almost  absolute  authority,  and  the  liberties  which  the  rise 
of  the  commonalty  had  brought  almost  within  reach  of  the 
English  nation  vanished. 

The  dauphin,  whom  the  national  party  in  France  crowned 
at  Poitiers  as  King  Charles  VII.,  inherited  but  a  small  share 
of  his  father's  dominions.  By  the  provisions  of  the  Treaty 
of  Troyes  (1420)  he  inherited  nothing,  the  whole  realm 
passing  to  the  English  House  of  Lancaster,  whose  armies  al- 
ready occupied  two  thirds  of  France  by  virtue  of  Henry  V.'s 
conquests,  and  his  alliance  with  the  great  dukes  of  Burgundy. 
This  English  rule  could  not  be  popular,  and  the  private 
grudge  of  the  Burgundians  ngainst  the  French  royal  family 


Lancaster  axd  Yohk.  l  i; 

was  destined  to  die  of  itself,  or  to  be  smothered  by  other 
interests.      Whenever  Burgundy  withdrew  her  hand    from 

gland's  friendly  grasp  the  English  power  in  France  must 
inevitably  fall.     Such  was  the  French  situation  when  John 

Bedford  was  installed  as  regent.  In  diplomatic  and  mili- 
tary -kill  John  was  scarcely  inferior  t<>  the  late  king,  liis 
brother,  and  could  he  have  depended,  as  did  the  latter  gen- 
eral, upon  the  united  support  of  the  nobility  at  home  he 
might  have  given  some  degree  of  permanence  to  the  English 
domination  of  France.  The  new  French  king  was  weak  in 
mind,  and  appalled  by  the  disaster  which  had  befallen  his 
kingdom.  The  South,  which  remained  true  to  him,  and  the 
patriots  who  clung  to  the  royal  line  drew  little  inspiration 
from  his  feeble  efforts  to  expel  the  foreigners.  The  Scots 
and  Milanese  who  were   sent    to  his  assistance  were  terribly 

• 

beaten  at  Verneuil  (1424).  After  this  battle,  affairs  in  En- 
gland and  a  temporary  defection  of  the  Burgundians  tied 
Bedford's  hands  for  the  space  of  three  years.     In  l  128  active 

tilitiea  were  renewed.  Orleans,  the  finest  city  remaining 
to  Charles,  was  invested  by  an    English  army,  and  alter  a 

r's  siege  was  on  the  point  of  capitulation  when — one  of 
the  most  marvelous  events  in  history — a  peasant   girl  saved 

ihe  c',!  v  and   t  lie  Hat  ion. 

a  of  Arc — "Jeanne   Darc"is  her  real  name — was  the 

dai.  of  a  laboring  man  of   Domremy,  a  liamlel  on  the 

borders  of  LbiTaihe,  in  France.     She  was  three  or  four  years 

Henry  of  Monmouth's  yeomen  routed   the  French 

knights        A       court,  and   ishe  was   in  her  eighteenth   year 

when  the  miseries  of  her  nation  called  her  from  her  father's 

cottage  to  the  cam  1 1  of  her  rightful  king.    She  had  been  a  qui*  t. 

tf 111  child,  and   in  dreams  ami    visions   l»y   da\    and   l»\ 

night    she   had   held   conversations   with   Baints  and   angel.-*, 

on,  ••  voices  *'  to!. I  her  what  to  do.     When  Bhe  greu  to 

young  womanhood  and  heard  the  neighbors  tell  of  the  war  and 

•  a  of  France,  the  \  \  hispered  to  her  that 


148  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

King  of  heaven  had  chosen  her,  the  peasant  girl  of  Domremy, 
to  deliver  the  king  of  France  from  his  enemies.  Her  father's 
threats  could  not  make  her  disobey  the  sacred  call.  The 
priests  and  the  captains  who  tried  to  stay  her  shrank  hack 
before  her  uncpiestioning  faith  in  her  mission.  Jeanne  was 
not  the  only  superstitious  person  in  the  realm,  and  her  faith 
bred  faith  in  others  around  her.  They  brought  her  to 
Charles,  to  whom  she  said  :  "  Gentle  sir,  I  am  Jeanne  the 
Maid.  The  heavenly  King  sent  me  to  tell  you  that  you  shall 
be  crowned  in  the  town  of  Rheims,  and  you  shall  be  lieuten- 
ant of  the  heavenly  King,  who  is  the  King  of  Fiance." 

Rheims  was  then  in  English  hands,  and  it  was  difficult  to 
believe  her  words  ;  b.ut  it  was  even  more  difficult  to  doubt 
her  calm  confidence,  and  the  maid  was  furnished  with  the 
armor  and  the  troops  that  she  required.  By  a  bold  maneuver 
she  entered  Orleans  and  brought  succor  to  the  besieged. 
At  the  head  of  the  garrison  she  sallied  forth  and  captured  the 
English  forts  beyond  the  walls,  liberating  the  city  from  its 
long  constraint  (1429).  The  French  soldiery  reverenced  her 
courage  and  saintly  purity;  in  the  English  camp  her  name 
was  at  first  a  by-word,  but  after  her  successes  they  feared  the 
"Maid  of  Orleans"  as  a  witch,  declaring  that  her  guiding 
"  voices  "  were  of  the  devil.  Jeanne's  victories  seemed  indeed 
magical  to  the  Englishmen,  who  had  considered  themselves 
invincible;  but  they  overlooked  the  simple  fact  that  the  hero- 
ism of  the  Maid  had  at  last  kindled  the  patriotism  of  the 
people,  and  the  force  of  the  nation  was  rapidly  gathering  to 
the  support  of  the  dauphin.  Before  the  end  of  the  year 
Charles  was  crowned  in  the  cathedral  of  Rheims,  and  Jeanne, 
her  mission  accomplished,  begged  i<>  be  allowed  to  go  home  to 
the  sheep  pastures  of  her  native  Lorraine.  But  the  king,  who 
had  found  her  useful,  refused  her  request.  She  remained 
with  the  army,  but  her  successes  were  less  marked  now,  and 
in  1430  she  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Burgunclians,  the  foes 
of  France  and  Bedford's  friends.     Their  duke  sold  her  to  the 


Lav  lster  akd  Yobk,  149 

English,  \vli<>  held  her  for  a  year  a  prisoner  in  Normandy, 
and  afterward  tried  her  for  witchcraft  and  heresy.  She 
asserted  her  innocence  and  purity  to  the  last.  When  the 
judges  gave  sentence  again  si  her  she  appealed  to  "her  Judge, 
the  King  of  heaven  and  earth,"  saying:  "In  all  my  doings 
I  i  has  been  my  lord."  Tiny  condemned  her  to  be  burned 
t<>  death.  The  French  king  mighl  well  have  given  hiscrown 
to  rans  >m  her,  for  without  her  he  would  have  been  crown- 
less,  but  the  ingrate  let  the  sentence  take  its  course.  In  1431, 
she  \\a>  vet  twenty-one  years  old,  Joan  of  Arc,  pray- 
ingaloud  and  crying  "Jesus  !"  with  la  r  last  painful  breath, 
vi    -  burned  in  the  city  of  Rouen. 

Four  years  after  .loan's  martyrdom  England's  grip  upon 
I     ince  was  loosened.     The  duke  of  Burgundy  joined  Kinj; 
Charles.     The  regenl  Bedford  died  in  the  same  year  ill 
and  the  area  of  English  influence  on  the  Continent  grew  less 
with  every  campaign.     The   duke  of   York,  as   regent,  en 
deavored  to  save  a   portion  of   the  realm    for  Henry,  but   in 

i.     Henry  Beaufort,  cardinal  and  bishop  of  Winchester, 
upheld  the  hands  of  the  English  generals,  and  after  his  re- 

ment  the  earl  of  Suffolk  continued  his  policy.  Still  the 
1.  iglish  losl  ground.  In  the  year  I  150  the  last  Norman  town 
surrendered  to  France,  and  in  1453  the  defeat  of  Lord 
Talbot,  of  Shrewsbury,  won  Gascony  also.  The  Hundred 
\  .  r-"  War  was  at  an  end.  England  losl  nol  only  her  recent 
conquests  and  re-conquests,  bul  all  her  lands  in  Frai 
pt  the  town  of  Calais,  were  taken  from  her. 
Very  little  had  Henrj  VI.  to  <!<»  with  the  events  which 
have  been  recorded  in  this  chapter.     During  the  first  twenty 

rs  of  his  reign  he  was  under  guardianship  as  a  minor,  and 
the  last    ten   were  marl  periods  of  idiocy  which 

[ualified  him  for  government.     He  was  married  to  Marj 
Princess  of  Anjon,  but  until  1453  he  had   no  heir,  and 
a  vigorous  controversy  raged  over  the  matter  of  the  succ 
sion.     Out   of  the  dismiU'd  claims  of  th<-  ducal   families  of 


150  Ax  Outline  History  or  England. 

Lancaster  and  York,  called  from  their  badges  the  "Red 
Rose"  and  the  "White,"  sprang  the  thirty  years  (1455-1485) 
of  civil  uproar,  which  are  known  as  the  Wars  of  the  Roses,  and 
to  whose  history  Ave  have  now  come.  The  vexed  question 
of  the  royal  inheritance  will  be  better  understood  by  refer- 
ence to  the  genealogical  table  of  the  descendants  of  Edward 
III.  (p.  150.)  For  three  generations  the  crown  had  been  in  the 
family  of  Lancaster — the  three  Henrys  being  son,  grandson, 
and  great-grandson  of  John  of  Gaunt.  Concluding  that 
Henry  VI.  would  die  childless,  the  Lancastrian  party  looked 
to  Edmund  Beaufort,  Duke  of  Somerset,  grandson  of  John 
of  Gaunt  by  his  mistress,  Catherine  Swynford.  Richard 
Plantagenet,  Duke  of  York,  was  his  principal  rival.  Richard 
had  double  claim  to  the  inheritance  if  he  chose  to  press  it. 
From  his  mother,  Ann  Mortimer,  he  received  the  rights  of 
the  earls  of  March,  the  descendants  of  Edward's  third  son, 
Lionel,  and  from  his  father  he  inherited  the  claims  and  titles 
of  Edmund,  Duke  of  York,  Edward's  fifth  son.  The  ille- 
gitimate Beauforts  had  once  been  debarred  from  the  throne 
by  law;  if,  therefore,  the  Lancastrian  king  had  no  children 
Richard  Plantagenet  would  be  his  lawful  heir;  meanwhile 
his  prior  claim  as  earl  of  March  "was  kept  in  reserve. 

The  contest  opened,  therefore,  with  Edmund  Beaufort,  the 
Lancastrian  Duke  of  Somerset,  and  Richard  Plantagenet, 
Yorkist,  striving  for  recognition  as  heir  to  Henry  VI.  In 
145:]  a  son,  Edward,  Prince  of  Wales,  was  born  to  the  king 
and  Margaret,  his  queen.  This  offered  a  peaceful  settlement 
for  the  quarrel  by  annulling  the  claims  of  both  parties,  and 
had  Henry  been  able  to  rule  in  his  own  name  the  nation 
might  have  escaped  the  civil  Avars  ;  but  his  malady  increased, 
and  the  periods  of  lethargy  through  which  he  passed  made  it 
necessary  for  the  helm  of  the  State  to  be  in  a  steadier  grasp. 
Duke  Richard  was  appointed  protector  of  the  realm — he 
seems  to  Iliac  had  the  favor  of  the  people — during  Henry's 
incapacitation.      Queen  Margaret  with   an  eye  to  her  son's 


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152  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

future  supported  the  Lancastrian,  Edmund  Beaufort. 
The  king's  disease  came  and  went;  in  his  periods  of  sanity 
he  resinned  the  government,  and,  guided  by  Somerset,  took 
harsh  measures  against  York.  The  strength  of  the  Yorkist 
party  lay  in  the  earls  of  Salisbury  and  Warwick.  In  1455 
the  royal  army  was  beaten  by  Richard  and  the  two  earls  in 
the  first  battle  of  St.  Albans,  and  Edmund  Beaufort  was 
slain.  Richard  resumed  the  regency,  and  the  king  relapsed 
into  imbecility.  At  his  next  recovery,  in  1458,  there  was 
another  revolution.  The  Yorkist  party  defended  itself,  and 
in  the  battle  of  Northampton,  14(H),  captured  the  king. 

Elated  by  his  victory,  and  encouraged  by  his  full  pos- 
session of  the  throne,  Richard  now  asserted  his  immediate 
claim  to  the  crown  as  the  descendant  of  Lionel,  John  of 
Gaunt's  elder  brother.  This  Parliament  refused  to  allow  in 
full,  but  it  was  decided  that  the  duke  of  Yrork,  and  not  the 
prince  of  Wales,  should  succeed  Henry  at  his  death.  This 
called  the  Red  Rose  into  the  held.  A  new  duke  of  Somer- 
set had  succeeded  Edmund,  and  with  him  stood  Lord  Clif- 
ford in  the  strun'iZ'le  for  the  inheritance  of  Prince  Edward. 
They  cut  the  Yorkish  forces  in  pieces  in  the  battle  of 
AYakefield  (1460).  Duke  Richard  died  on  the  field,  and 
the  earl  of  Salisbury  on  the  scaffold.  The  duke's  son, 
Edward,  and  Salisbury's  son,  the  earl  of  Warwick,  con- 
tinued the  Yrorkist  resistance.  Unchecked  by  defeat,  tliey 
occupied  London,  gathered  a  great  army  in  the  east,  and  in 
the  early  spring  of  14G1  (March  29)  met  the  Lancastrian 
army  on  Towton  Field.  Twenty  thousand  bloody  corpses 
were  strewn  on  the  snow-covered  held  at  sunset,  where  the 
banner  of  the  Red  Rose  had  floated  at  dawn.  The  fiercest 
battle  that  had  been  fought  in  Britain  in  four  centuries  was 
won  by  Edward.  The  pitiable  king  tied  to  Scotland  with 
his  stout-hearted  queen  and  her  little  son,  -while  Parliament 
and  citizens  alike  hailed  Edward  of  York  as  king.  In  June, 
14iil.he  was  crowned  as  King  Edward  IV. 


Lax<  vsi  in    ami  York.  153 

ivard  IV.  was  a  Btrong  man,  handsome  and  brave,  but 
with  much  nf  the  tyrant  in  him.  Wiih  parliaments  he  had 
small  patience,  and  under  him  that  body  lost  the  strength 
which  it  lr.nl  been  accumulating  since  the  death  of  Simon 
of  Montfort.      For  several  years  In-  « I i « 1  not   once  summon 

• 

the  lords  and  commons,  managing  by  various  unconstitu- 
tional devices  to  raise,  without  legal  taxation,  the  money 
which  the  prosecution  of  his  ambitious  schemes  required, 
of  the  conquered  Lancastrians  were  forfeited 
tn  the  crown;  subsidies  were  granted  and  collected  for 
wars  which  were  never  foughl  :  and  when  Parliament  was 
called  together  no  more  the  king  invited  the  rich  citiz 
of  London  to  ■.  of  their  substance  "  benevolences "  into 
the  r«»yal  treasury.  A  royal  invitation  was  a  command,  and 
these  reluctant  offerings  were  not  withheld.  Beyond  all 
these  sources  of  revenue  Edward  was  a  money-maker  in 
a  manner  new  1"  English  sovereigns.  The  world  was  awak- 
ening  from  thesleepof  the  Middle  Ages.  The  crusades  hud 
increased  communication  between  the  easl  and  west,  and 
trade  had  followed  in  their  wake.  The  king  became  a  m<  r- 
chant,    owning    and     freighting    a    fleet     of    ships    wh 

turned  fresh  Btreams  of  gold  into  his  treasure 
chests.  In  this  fifteenth  Christian  century  Europe  wns 
all  astir.  Medieval  customs,  the  feudal  system,  the  tem- 
poral supremacy  <>f  the  Catholic  Church  had  passed  their 
prime,  and  the  old  order  was  ready  for  a  change.  In  Italy 
art  was  blossoming  forth  into  its  most  perfect  flower.  In 
the  court-,  of  western  Europe  a  Genoese  sailor  was  showing 
:'  curious  maps,  and  begging  \'<<v  means  to  discover  a 
new  world.  John  Gutenberg,  a  German,  was  cutting  types 
for   the   first    printed  book  ;   and   in   every    university   and 

many  a  monastic  library  there  was  wide-eyed  w lerment 

the   treasures  of  Greek  and   Latin  literature  which,  long 
•  I  in  Constantinople,  had  been  dispersed  at  its  capt- 
ure (1453).     Arts,  sciences,  learning— •intellectual  activity  of 
-* 


154  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

every  sort  was  born  again.  The  Wars  of  the  Roses  held 
England  back  from  the  general  advance.  Her  artists  were 
rude  imitators,  she  had  no  poets,  her  first  printers  served  their 
time  in  continental  offices,  and  Columbus  was  sent  with 
rebuffs  from  London  to  the  court  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella. 

King  Edward's  wars  did  not  end  with  his  accession.  The 
great  Lancastrian  lords  had  lost  their  lives  and  their  lands  in 
the  hour  of  defeat,  but  the  great  allies  of  York  claimed  un- 
usual favors  from  the  duke  of  whom  thev  had  made  a  kin^. 
The  earl  of  Warwick,  "the  king-maker,"  himself,  was 
Edward's  most  rebellious  subject.  After  Towton  battle  the 
unconquerable  Queen  Margaret  had  roused  the  Lancastrians 
to  other  futile  efforts  for  her  son.  To  these  the  battle  of 
Hexham  (1464)  had  put  an  end,  and  Edward  felt  encouraged 
to  show  his  independence.  He  offended  Earl  Warwick  and 
the  Yorkist  lords  by  marrying  Lady  Elizabeth  Grey,  and  heap- 
ing favors  upon  her  relatives  of  the  house  of  Lancaster.  To 
strengthen  his  seat  on  the  throne  he  betrothed  his  sister  to  Duke 
Charles  the  Bold,  of  Burgundy,  the  leading  peer  of  France. 

The  ambition  and  jealousy  of  the  duke  of  Clarence, 
Edward's  brother,  furnished  Warwick  with  a  center  for  his 
plots.  Clarence  married  the  earl's  daughter  (1469),  and  the 
allied  nobles  seized  the  person  of  the  king.  But  their  propo- 
sition found  no  supporters.  Edward,  soon  released,  and  mov- 
ing quickly,  pressed  the  conspirators  so  hard  that  they  were 
forced  to  new  treasons  for  their  safety.  Queen  M  irgaret, 
ready  for  any  alliance  which  should  benefit  her  husband  and 
the  prince  of  Wales,  promised  the  earl  that  her  son  should 
wed  his  daughter.  Thus  the  remnant  of  the  strength  of 
Lancaster  joined  with  the  main-stay  of  the  house  of  York  to 
ruin  Edward.  Surprised  by  this  sudden  turn,  the  king 
escaped  to  France,  while  the  distracted  Henry  VI.  was 
brought  from  his  prison  for  a  few  weeks  of  feeble  grandeur. 

But  the  subtlety  of  the  king-maker  was  surpassed  by  Ed- 
ward.    Charles  the  Bold  had   furnished    assistance,   and  his 


Lancaster  axd  York,  153 

own  conduct  after  landing  in  England  rallied  an  array  to  his 
standard.  Henry,  the  lawful  sovereign,  had  been  restored, 
and  Edward  declared  that  with  the  king  he  had  no  quarrel. 
His  roval  rights  and  title  he  would  waive;  only  for  his 
dukedom  of  5Tork  would  he  fight.  This  specious  statement 
made  thewayeasy.  Even  his  brother,  Clarence,  took  part  in 
this  vindication  of  the  house  of  Fork.  The  Lancastri; 
lacked  a  leader.  King  Henry  was  king  only  in  name; 
Prince  Edward  was  a  youth  of  seventeen  ;  and  the  traitor 
Warwick,  the  strongest  man  in  the  party,  had  so  identified 
himself  with  the  Yorkisl  cause  in  the  past  that  half  his  pres- 
enl  host  mistrusted  his  sincerity.  Edward  IV.  alone  was 
kingly,  and  he  was  s the  only  king.  He  struck  his  ene- 
mies before  they  could  unite;  Warwick's  army  was  routed 
at  Barnet  in  April,  1171,  and  three  weeks  later .Mai'garel 
was  defeated  at  Tewkesbury,  and  her  son,  the  prop  of  the 
house  of  Lancaster,  either  fell  in  the  tray  or  was  merciles 
murdered  at  its  olose.  On  May  22  the  husband  and  father, 
Henry  VI.,  died  in  his  prison.  No  direct  male  representa- 
tive >  f  the  house  of  Lancaster  survived. 

Edward  IV.  resumed  the  crown  unchallenged.     For  twelve 

rs  he  reicraed  securely.  There  was  a  brief  war  with  Scot- 
land,  and  for  a  longer  period  there  were  rumors  of  war  with 
France.  The  king  renewed  the  claims  of  Edward  III.  to 
the  throne  of  that  kingdom,  and  when  that  cloud  of  war  had 
blown  over,  Ins  negotiations  with  Louis  XI.  for  a  marrij 
h  ween  the  dauphin  and  the  English  prince.-.,  Elizabeth, 
blew  up  another  thunder-head,  which,  however,  held  no 
lightning.  Diplomacy  was  the  king's  best  weapon,  and  by 
it-  means  he  kept  his  k  ngdora  from  serious  foreign  war-,  and 

•  •  it  the  peace  which   was  needed  after  the  disorder  of 

the  civil  strife.     His  brother  Clarence,  whom  he  feared,  was 

convicted  of  trea  on   and   put    to  death   in    Loudon  Tower 

(I  ; 7- 1  —drowned  in  a  butt  of  malmsey,  said  the  babblers  of 

time.     Ii  Edward  supposed  that  the  death  of  Clarence 


]50  Ax  Outline  HrsToitY  of  England. 

insured  his  son's  succession  he  was  in  grievous  error.  An- 
other brother  remained,  Richard,  Duke  of  Gloucester,  whom 
many  believed  guilty  of  the  blood  of  Henry  VI.,  and  upon 
whom  the  sudden  death  of  Edward  IV,  April  9,  1483,  drew 
dark  suspicion  of  poisoning. 

The  king  left  four  children — Edward,  Prince  of  Wales, 
henceforth  Edward  V.;  Richard,  Duke  of  York,  soon  to 
be  smothered  in  the  Tower;  Elizabeth,  afterward  queen  of 
Henry  VII.,  and  Katharine.     Aq-ain  the  accession  of  an  infant 

a/  *^> 

gave  opportunity  for  usurpation.  Edward  Avas  in  his  thir- 
teenth year  and  incapable  of  reigning  in  person  ;  his  uncle, 
Richard  of  Gloucester,  gained  possession  of  the  boy  and  his 
brother,  and  seized  the  government  by  force.  To  give  his 
usurpation  a  legal  gloss  he  obtained  a  decree  from  a  council 
of  friendly  nobles,  declaring  that  the  marriage  of  Edward 
IV.  and  the  Lady  Elizabeth  Grey  was  invalid,  and  their  chil- 
dren, therefore,  were  illegitimate  and  powerless  to  inherit. 
That  his  elder  brother,  Clarence,  had  been  condemned  as  a 
traitor  tainted  the  blood  of  that  family,  and  thus  Richard  of 
Gloucester  remained  the  next  male  heir  of  the  house  of 
York.  Two  months  only  were  needed  to  consummate  this 
iniquity  ;  the  duke  hurried  his  nephews  (Edward  V.  and 
Richard  of  York)  to  London  Tower,  and  they  were  never 
seen  again.  They  were  doubtless  murdered  there — smoth- 
ered, one  story  has  it — by  their  uncle's  order. 

In  .Tune,  14s:i,  the  usurper  was  crowned  as  King  Rich- 
ard III.  But  not  by  deeds  of  blood  alone  could  the  king 
hope  to  establish  himself  firmly  upon  the  throne.  The 
partisans  of  Lancaster  were  his  natural  enemies,  and  the  best 
men  of  York  were  shocked  by  his  heartless  murders.  The 
king  was  keen  enough  to  see  that  he  must  make  real  con- 
cessions to  the  nation  for  very  security's  sake.  His  brother, 
Edward  IV.,  had  erred  on  the  side  of  tyranny.  By  neglect- 
ing Parliament,  and  by  forced  benevolences,  he  had  habitually 
overstepped  the  bounds  which  had  hedged  the  English  king 


Lancaster  and  York.  157 

e  the  barons  brought  King  John  to  book  at  Runnymede. 

abandoning  these   forms  of  misrule   Richard  might    Mill 
gain    fav<T.      He    ueed  have   been,    in    n<»   ignorance   of 

Swishes.  The  people  of  London  declared  in  petition: 
'•  We  be  determined  rather  to  adventure  and  to  commit  us 
to  the  peril  of  our  lives  and  jeopardy  of  death,  than  to  live 
in  such  thralldom  and  bondage  as  we  have  lived  a  long  time 
'ore,  oppressed  and  injured  by  extortions  and  new  im- 
positions against  the  laws  of  God  and  man,  and  the  laws  and 
liberty  of  this  realm,  wherein  everj  man  is  inherited."  This 
an«l  like  addr  i  the  throne  were  effective.     Parliam< 

■\va-  a  scmbled ;  the  oppressions  and  exactions  of  the  late 
kin<_r  were  censured,  and  new  and  better  laws  were  enact 
Bui  this  mildness  failed  to  save  Gloucester,  secure  thougl 
deemed  himself  to  be.     The   Princess  Elizabeth,  his  nil 

resented  nil  that  was  left  of  the  house  of  York,  and  her 
the  king  determined  to  wed. 

A   other  marriage  had  been  planned  for  the  maiden  prin- 
A  representative  of  the  house  of  Lancaster  still  lived. 

-    was   Henry  Tudor,   Earl  of   Riehmi  ml.      His    grand- 
father, Owen  Tu  lor,  \\as  a  Welsh  gentleman  of  little  impor- 
tance in  history  had  h  •  m>t  married  Catharine,  the  widowed 
of  Henry  V.     From  this  marriage  sprang  the  carl  of 

hmond,  Edmund  Tudor,  who,  with  his  father's  eye  for  an 
advanl  is    marriage,    wedded     Margaret     Beaufort,   "l 

the    ducal    family   of   Somerset.      Thus  Henry  Tudor,  Bon 
mud  and  Margaret,  had  in  his  veins,  from  his  mother 
and  liia   i  '     mother,  the  Lancastrian   blood  of  John  of 

'.    int.     As  the  lasl  <>f  the  Lancasters  he  was  an  object   of 

picion  to  the  Yorkist  kings,  and  prudence  prompted  him 
to  reside  in  France  rather  than  in  his  own  earldom.  The 
Lancastrian  politicians  joined  with  those  Yorkist  partisans 
who  had  m.  stomach  for  Richard's  usurpations  to  marry 
Henry  Tudor  to  Elizabeth  of  \<>rk.  Before  the  main 
could  1    the  connpiracy    was   discovered,    and 


1^6  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

Buckingham,  one  of  its  leaders,  was  beheaded  for  his  share  in 
the  plot.  But  Henry  of  Richmond  kept  beyond  the  king's 
reach  until  14S5,  when  dispatches  from  England  informed  him 
that  the  plans  were  ripe.  Upon  his  landing  Richard  per- 
ceived ho\vr  insecure  was  his  own  footing  in  the  island.  In 
all  parts  of  the  kingdom  there  were  Lancastrian  risings, 
while  the  friends  of  York,  for  the  mosrt  pat,  rose  with  them 
or  remained  quietly  in  their  homes.  The  last  battle  in  tlie 
struggle  of  the  Roses  was  fought,  August  22,  1485,  on  Bos- 
worth  Field,  in  Leicestershire.  King  Richard's  men  deserted 
him  in  the  face  of  the  enemy  ;  he  had  no  chance  of  flight, 
but— with  the  bravery  of  his  Plantagenet  blood — he  sold  his 
life  at  the  cost  of  many,  and  fell  in  a  vain  attempt  to  kill 
the  Tudor.  The  Red  Rose  triumphed  over  the  White  that 
day,  as  the  White  had  vanquished  the  Red  at  Tewkesbury 
fourteen  years  before,  but  the  union  of  the  Red  and  White 
in  the  marriage  of  Henry  and  Elizabeth  ended  forever  the 
strife  of  Lancaster  and  York.  At  Richard's  death  Henry  of 
Richmond  was  accepted  by  Parliament  as  Henry  VTL,  the 
first  of  the  Tudor  kings. 


The  Ti  dor  Moxak<  hs.  Ij.1 


CHAPTER    X. 

THE  TUDOR   MONARCHS.     1485  A.  D.-1547  A.  D. 
HEKBY    \  II.    AND    IIKNKV    VIII. 

Tin:  five  sovereigns  "1*  the  House  of  Tudor  occupied  the 
»lish  throne  from  Henry  Tudor's  accession  in  1485  to  the 
death  of  Elizabeth  Tudor  in    1603.     Within  this  period  of 
one  hundred  and  eighteen  years  the  kingdom  passed  through 
a  series  of  radical  changes  in  its  internal  government,  in  its 
relation  to  [reland,  Scol  la  ml,  ami  the  continental  nation-,  and 
in  it-  connection  with  the  Church  of  Rome,  and  with  the  New 
World,  which  in  I  \-~>  was  only  a  fancy  of  a  penniless  Italian 
dreamer.     This  century  marked   the  transformation  of   the 
medieval  English  nation  into  a  modern  State,  and  the  change 
was  accompanied  by  a  splendid  outbui'sl   of  those  intellect- 
ual   forces    whose    beginning   had    thrilled   western    Europe 
while   tin-   island    kingdom   stagnated    under   tin-   curse   <>f 
ci\  il  war. 
This  era  of  national  growth  in  wealth  and  culture  did  not 
with  equal  force  upon  the  development   of  tier  govern- 
ment.     The  Tudor-  were   a  strong-willed  family    of   mon- 
bs,  who  opposed  at  every  turn  i  he  efforts  of  t  heii-  subjects 
to  limit  the  authority  of  the  crown.     The  cheek-  which  had 
dually  been  place. 1  upon  the  absolute  power  of  the  king 
were  essentially  these,  some  of  them  as  old  m-  Magna  Charta 
If:    l.    No  new   tax   mighl    be  imposed  upon  the  nation 
without   the    consenl    of    a    Parliament    in    which    nobles, 
clergy,  and  commoners   were  represented.     2.    The  conseut 
mli  a  Parliament  was  requisite  for  all  new  laws  and  all 
-  in  tie-  ..M  law.     ;;.   Without  Legal  warrant   no  man 


1G0  Ax  Outline  History  of  Exglaxd. 

might  be  arrested  and  deprived  of  his  liberty.  4.  Accused 
persons  were  entitled  to  speedy  trial  by  a  fair  jury  in  the 
county  where  the  offense  was  committed.  5.  All  crown 
officers  were  liable  to  jury  trial  and  punishment  for  injuries 
committed  upon  persons  or  property,  even  though  such  in- 
juries  should   result    from   obedience  of    the  king's   orders. 

These  five  safeguards  secured  to  England  the  most  liberal 
government  in  Europe.  It  is  true  that  they  had  not  always 
been  respected  by  tyrannous  kings,  but  it  is  equally  certain 
that  they  were  so  well  established  that  the  king  who  broke 
through  any  one  of  them  branded  himself  as  an  oppressor. 
Edward  IV.  had  tried  to  evade  some  of  these  limitations,  and 
by  force  and  guile  had  succeeded  in  strengthening  his  posi- 
tion at  the  expense  of  Parliament.  Richard  III.,  as  we  have 
seen,  angled  for  a  short-lived  popularity  with  the  bait  of 
constitutional  reform.  Henry  VII.,  when  firmly  seated  on  his 
throne,  returned  to  Edward's  policy,  and  worked  with  steady 
purpose  to  upbuild  the  personal  power  of  the  sovereign. 

Henry's  first  care  was  to  make  firm  his  seat.  As  the  repre- 
sentative of  Lancaster  he  might  serve  as  a  rallying  center  for 
a  partjr,  but  his  descent  was  by  a  devious  line,  and  his  claim 
to  the  crown  of  England  as  his  inheritance  was  absurd,  lie 
"was  king  by  force  of  arms  as  truly  as  Richard  had  been 
king  by  treason  and  murder,  and  the  one  had  no  clearer  royal 
title  than  the  other.  Parliament  decreed  that  Henry  VII. 
and  his  heirs  should  rule  England  ("and  France,"  as  the 
empty  title  still  read),  and  on  this  Parliamentary  act,  backed 
by  the  incontrovertible  arguments  of  conquest  and  possession, 
the  king's  position  rested.  The  remnant  of  the  family  of 
York  was  a  possible  source  of  disturbance.  The  two  sons  of 
Edward  IV.  were  dead,  by  Richard's  order — or  as  good  as  dead 
— in  the  Tower  dungeons.  Elizabeth,  their  sister,  the  king 
married,  uniting  the  blood  of  Lancaster  and  York.  The 
young  earl  ot  Warwick,  son  of  the  "  malmsey "  duke  of 
Clarence,  and  grandson  of  the  King-maker,  was  cousin  and 


The  Tcdor  Moxarcits.  i  1 1 

•  of  kin  to  Edward  V.;  Iiim  Henry  hurried  to  the  gloomy 
rer.      Such  havoc  was  made  among  the  Yorkist  print    • 
that  the  party  was  in  straits  for  a  Btandard-bearer.     [n  tl 
ency    two  remarkable   impostors  appeared  in  England, 
.  ing  for  a  little  the  withered  rose  of   .  ork. 
The  lirst  of  these  "pretenders"  was  one  Lambert  Simuel, 
who  claimed  to  be  that  earl  of  Warwick  whom  Henry  held 
in  prison.     He  gathered  a  band  of  Yorkist  exiles  in  Europe 
and  Km  ed  with  them  in  England,  in  1487,  to  claim  the  king- 
dom as  the  heir  of  his  cousin,  Edward  V.     -Men  of  note  be- 
lieved him  to  be  Warwick,  and  gave  their  lives  in  battle  for 
Iiim   at   Si oke,  where  he  was  defeated  and  captured.     The 
impostor  was  made  a  scullion  in  the  royal  palace.     Li: 
daunted  by  his  fate,  Perkin  Warbeck,  smother  claimant,  more 
ful  in  his  pretensions  and  more  wretched  in  his  end 
than  Simnel,  took  up  the  banner  of  the  cause.     He  claimed 
to  be  thai    Richard,  Duke  of  York,  whom  the  red-handed 
Richard   III.   had  smothered  in  the  Tower  with  his  brother, 
I.  [ward  V.     Warbeck  is  said  to  have  been  a  Fleming  of  low 
birth,  but  he  bore  a   marked  resemblance  to  the  prince  he 
claimed  to  be  and  his  personal  charm  won  powerful  support, 
fitins:  liv  Simnel's  experienc  ■  the  managers  of  the  IV.    h 
tender  showed  their  prize  in  foreign  courts  before  brii 
ing  him  to    England.      For  a  time  ho  imposed    upon  King 
Charles  VIII.  of  France,  and  on  the  duchess  •  f  Burgundy, 
aunt   of  the  real    Duke   Richard.     King  James  IV.  of  S 
land  gave  him  substantial  aid,  and  in  I  196  Warb  ck  and  the 
king  invaded  England.     The  inva  ion  came  to  noth- 
Warbeck   was  captured    in   the   following  year   and 
placed  in  r  with   Henry's  other  enemies.     Ili-^  re- 

:  attempts  I  i  ■       pe  made  him  a  dangerous  priso 
1    in    l  199   he   and    his    fell  \v  prisoner,  Warwick,   whom 

inel  had  | nat<  1,  were  put  to  death.     The  Win 

w  a 

Whili  dealing  with  the  perils  that   threatened  his  line  the 


1G2  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

king  was  pursuing  that  definite  course  of  strong  government 
which  characterized  his  house.  The  existing  checks  upon 
the  royal  authority,  which  have  been  enumerated  here,  were 
as  galling  to  the  Tudor  sovereigns  as  they  would  have  been 
to  the  Norman  conqueror.  Parliament  sat  infrequently  in 
the  last  thirteen  years  of  Henry  VII.  Yet  the  kingdom  had 
ample  revenues,  and  the  king  amassed  a  private  fortune 
independently  of  the  consent  of  the  lords  and  commons. 

Certain  commercial  duties — tonnage  and  poundage — were 
granted  him  for  life  by  an  early  Parliament,  and  these  in- 
creased in  profit  with  the  rapid  extension  of  English  com- 
merce. Wars  with  France  proved  as  profitable  to  Henry  as 
they  had  been  to  Edward  IV.  Money  for  the  campaigns 
was  obtained  from  the  people,  but  no  battles  were  fought. 
The  English  money  went  into  the  royal  treasury,  the  French 
king  at  the  same  time  paying  for  the  privilege  of  peace. 
As  the  landlords  had  revived  forgotten  bonds  of  servitude 
when  the  Black  Death  had  depleted  the  labor  market,  so 
Henry,  lacking  the  tax  levies  which  only  Parliament  might 
impose,  revived  ancient  feudal  rights  of  the  crown  over  the 
land-owners,  and  compelled  the  payment  of  fines  and  dues 
which  had  been  in  desuetude  for  generations.  Nobles  paid 
dearly  for  exemption  from  the  support  of  armed  retain- 
ers, this  method  of  punishment  yielding  profit  to  the  king, 
and  depriving  the  feudal  lords  of  the  private  armies  with 
which,  in  the  past,  they  had  intimidated  the  royal  power. 

The  development  of  the  art  of  warfare  further  strengthened 
the  monarchy.  In  the  simpler  days,  when  bow  and  arrow, 
ax  and  spear,  served  for  offensive  armor,  a  force  of  peasants 
was  match  for  a  troop  of  knights,  and  many  a  battle  went  by 
preponderance  of  numbers.  Gunpowder,  first  employed,  per- 
haps, in  the  battle  of  Crecy,  revolutionized  the  science  of  war. 
The  Lancastrian  kings  owed  much  of  their  success  in  France 
to  their  cannon.  The  castles  of  the  nobles,  which  were  so 
many  strongholds  against  the  kins:  in  case  of  civil  war,  were 


The  Ti  dob  Moxar<  us.  103 

the  mercy  of  the  royal  artillery,  and  the  long  castle  bn 

the  early  reigns  do  not  appear  in  the  records  of  the  Tudors. 

I.  udl<  ss  merchants  and  other  men  of  wealth  had  t<>  share 

ir  Drains  with  the  avaricious  Henry.     "  Benevolences,"  the 

.■•1  contributions  levied  l>v  Edward  IV.,  and  renounced  by 

liard   III were  revived,  and  collected  with  especial  zeal. 

Morton,  the  royal  officer  who  was  charged  with  their  collec- 
tion, w  persistent  in  his  search  t'"r  wealth  that  nun 
•  to  speak  of  "Morton's  fork."  They  said  thai  it'  a  man 
lived  extravagantly  he  was  mulcted  of  a  benevolence  on  the 
■iiid  of  evident  wealth,  and  if  he  sought  to  avoid  this 
fate  by  unostentatious  way  <>t'  life  the  sheriffs  pounced  upon 
him  as  a  miser  who  must  divide  his  hoard  with  the  king. 

I;  would  have  been  impracticable  for  the  sovereign  to  use 
the  ordinary  jury-courts  as  a  means  of  enforcing  these  proj- 
r  raising  money;    an  impartial  jury  would  have  re- 
ed such  acts  as  tyrannous.     So  the  king  had  recourse  to  a 
rt  compose  1  of  high  offii-ials  and  members  of  his  council. 
This  court — sometimes   called    "Star   Chamber,"    from    the 

d rations   of   it^   meeting-room— heard    cases   concerning 

fraud,  libel,  feudal  privileges,  forgery,  perjury,  riotings,  etc., 
and  was  in  this  reign  and  the  next  an  instrument  of  the  most 
hateful  tyranny.  lis  judges  being  appointed  by  the  crown, 
and  no  jury  being  present,  tin-  court  was  a  facile  tool. 

II  :ny  VII.  died  in  1509,  leaving  to  his  son,  Prince  Henry, 
undisputed  title  to  the  throne,  and  a  treasure  of  £2,000,000. 
B  -ides   this  son  there  had  been  another,  Arthur,  and  two 
ghtera.    Arthur,  the  eldesl  prince,  had  married  Catharine 
Vragon,  daughter  of  Ferdinand  and  Isabella,  the  Spanish 
ons  of  Columbus.     II    soonleft  her  a  widow,  and  the  spe- 
cial dispensation  of  t  he  pope  was  needed  and  obtained  for  her 
i  I     •>•■•    Henry  (1509).     The  Princess  Margaret 
found  a  royal  husband  in  James  IV.  ol  n-\,  and  so  in 

became  grandmother  to  .Mary.  Queen   of  Scots. 
y  'I'ie lor,  tbeyoui  Henry's  daughters,  also  wed  ed 


lGi  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

a  king,  Louis  XII.  of  France.  After  his  death  she  married 
an  Englishman,  Charles  Brandon,  and  so  became  grand- 
mother of  another  noble  and  more  pitiable  girl,  Lady  Jane 
Grey.  It  will  be  well  to  bear  these  several  marriages  in 
mind,  for  the  history  of  the  sixteenth  century  in  England 
has  much  to  do  with  wedding,  divorcement,  and  rival  claims 
to  the  succession. 

Henry  VIII. — "bluff  King  Hal" — was  eighteen  years  old 
when  he  came  into  his  father's  noble  inheritance  in  1509.  He 
was  in  ruddy  health,  tall,  and  fair  to  see,  excelling  in  every 
manner  of  English  sport  and  not  ill-trained,  in  the  learning 
of  the  schools.  In  his  veins  the  blood  of  Edward  III.  was 
again  united  after  long  separation  in  the  families  of  Lan- 
caster and  York.  From  his  father  he  received  a  splendid 
treasure  and  a  peaceful  and  prosperous  kingdom,  whose  long 
quiescence,  stagnation  indeed,  was  now  giving  plac3  to  an 
unprecedented  activity  in  letters,  art,  and  science.  His  father, 
moreover,  bequeathed  to  him  a  vigorous  mind,  a  stubborn 
will,  ami  a  recklessness  of  life  and  law  which  served  him 
well  in  his  thirty-eight  years  of  absolute  rule  (l 500-154 V). 

The  popular  favor  which  greeted  the  new  king  was 
strengthened  by  an  act  which  augured  ill  for  the  security  of 
personal  rights.  Empson  ami  Dudley,  two  officers  who  had 
aided  Henry  VII.  in  his  harsh  forms  of  tax-collection,  were 
put  to  death  upon  a  trumped-up  charge. 

Henry  thirsted  for  war  as  a  means  of  asserting  England's 
place  among  the  continental  powers,  as  well  as  for  the  glory 
which  personal  success  would  bring  to  him.  His  marriage 
with  Catharine  of  Aragon  determined  his  place  in  the  strug- 
gle which  was  vexing  Europe.  After  the  expulsion  of  the 
English  from  their  French  possessions  the  French  kings  had 
steadily  gained  in  power  at  the  expense  of  their  great  feuda- 
tories. France  was  now  well  consolidated,  and  outranked 
all  other  kingdoms  in  wealth  and  military  power,  having  just 
conquered  and  annexed  a  large  share  of  Italy.     To  hold  her 


Tiik  Tudor  Moxabchs.  i    i 

in  check  was  the  object  of  ihc  Holy  League,  which  w;  - 
formed  about  the  year  1"»11  by  Ferdinand  of  Aragon,  Queen 

<  barine'a  father,  with  the  pope  and  the  Venetian  repub- 
lic In  1512  Henry  joined  with  his  father-in-law,  and  the 
following  year  the  Emperor  Maximilian  added  hia  weighl  to 
the  column  which  pushed  the  French  hack  from  Italy.     En- 

nd's  active  share  in  the  military  operations  <>t"  the  league 
was  unimportant;  bul  her  alliance  against  France  al  this  im- 
portant  juncture  curbed  the  arroganee  of  thai  proud  mon- 
archy. In  1513  Maximilian  and  Henry  drove  the  Fi'ench 
dry  from  the  Geld  of  Guinegal  so  swiftly  that  the  day 
ever  since  been  called  "  the  Battle  of  the  Spin's."  In  the 
Bame  year  the  Scots,  always  on   the  side   of    France,  wi 

iten  at  Flodden  Field  bv  Earl  Howard  of  Surrey,  and  their 
king,  James  IV..  was  slain.  Peace  with  both  countries  fol- 
lowed— a  peace  which  the  diplomatic  ability  of  Thomas 
\V    Isey  prolonged  for  seven  years  (1514—1521). 

VVolsey  was  the  son  of  a  wealthy  commoner  of   [pswieh. 

Bdelity  and  adroitness  he  worked  hia  way  up  in  the  civil 

service  of  the  State  and  into  the  heart  of  the   king's  favor. 

II   nry  gave  him  rich  offices  in  the  Church,  he  became  bishop 

Lincoln  and  archbishop  of   York.     Like   his  early   pred- 

Lan franc,  he  was  politician  first   and   prelate  after- 

rd.       He  now  t  1513)  took  charge  <>t'  the  foreign  policy  of 

land  and  formed  a  passive  alliance  with   France,  where 

Lb  ii.      Ferdinand  of  Aragon  died,  and 

famous  grandson,  Charh  -  \  ..  succeeded  to  the  kingdom 

Spain.     With  kings  like  these  to  deal  with  Wolsey  needed 

and    his    master  indeed  spared  n  >ne.     The 

pope  sent  the  commoner's  son  a  cardinal's  hat  and  a  1 

amission.      This  placed  him  at   the  he. el  of  the  English 

<  ireh.  Il«-  was  already  foreign  minister,' and  as  chancellor 
of  the  realm  he  controlled  the  judicial  machinery  <>l  the 
nation.  In  his  personal  revenues,  the  magnificence  of  his 
palaces,  the  splendor  of  hia  household,  he  was  Little  behind 


156  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

royalty  itself.  All  this  authority  was  devoted  to  Henry's 
aggrandizement. 

The  development  of  Charles  V.'s  power  aroused  a  new 
ambition  in  King  Henry's  breast.  Charles  was  a  nephew 
of  Queen  Catharine,  and  had  now,  as  German  emperor 
and  Spanish  king,  possessions  which  surrounded  and  over- 
shadowed those  of  France.  With  such  an  ally  the  house 
of  Tudor  might  regain  the  crown  of  France  which  Edward 
III.  had  claimed,  Henry  V.  had  won,  and  Henry  VI.  had 
forfeited.  The  conquest  seemed  easy,  and  Charles  came 
to  England  in  person  to  urge  his  royal  nephew  to  action. 
Francis  foresaw  his  peril,  ami  in  an  interview  with  Henry 
near  Calais  sought  to  recoyer  his  friendship.  The  gorgeous 
preparations  for  that  royal  visit  christened  it  "The  Field  of 
the  Cloth  of  Gold."  But  the  interview  was  fruitless.  Henry, 
Charles,  and  the  pope  again  joined  hands  in  secret  against 
Francis — Charles  promising  to  marry  Henry's  only  child,  the 
Princess  Mary,  his  own  cousin  though  she  was.  Mary  was 
formally  recognized  as  heir  to  the  English  throne,  and 
Edward  Stafford,  Duke  of  Buckingham,  a  distant  scion  of 
the  stock  of  Edward  III.,  was  beheaded  on  a  charge  of  treason 
(1521)  in  order  to  clear  the  way  for  Mary  Tudor's  accession. 

The  approach  of  a  foreign  war  perplexed  the  cardinal.  Dur- 
ing seven  peaceful  years  he  had  succeeded  in  governing  En- 
gland and  raising  sufficient  revenue  without  a  single  session 
of  Parliament.  Now  a  Parliament,  with  all  its  spirit  of  inter- 
ference in  the  king's  business,  must  be  called  to  vote  money  for 
the  war.  Parliament  { 152:3)  voted  less  than  half  the  sum 
demanded.  In  1525  the  government  asked  for  the  hated 
"benevolences."  Never  had  the  burden  fallen  so  heavily 
or  been  more  stoutly  resisted.  Bold  voices  were  heard  pro- 
testing against  the  lawless  extortion.  Bolder  hands  drove 
the  king's  agents  from  their  towns.  The  levy  failed.  Mean- 
while the  war  was  raging.  Charles  was  winning  victories 
from  Francis  and  spending  Henry's  hard- wrung  gold  for  his 


The  Tudor  Moxarchs.  167 

own  benefit.  England  "  vent  out  shearing  and  came  back 
Bhorn  ;"  -In-  helped  to  pay  for  humbling  France,  but  losl  her 
monev  for  her  pains.     Charles  repudiated  his  pledge  to  marry 

\  Tudor,  and  Henry  in  dismay  transferred  his  friendship 
t«>  lii->  former  foe,  the  king  of  France. 

The  course  of  events  has  now  brought  us  to  the  central 
event  of  Henry's  reign— his  divorce  from  his  first  queen. 
This  single  acl  led  to  the  fall  of  VVolsey,  the  eleva- 
tion of  Cromwell,  the  quarrel  with  the  pope,  and  the 
final  separation  of  the  Church  of  England  from  the  Church 
of  Rome.  The  royal  pair  had  been  married  by  special  per- 
mission of  the  pope — for  their  relationship  otherwise  pro- 
hibited the  union.  Catharine  was  Rome  years  older  than  her 
husband;  her  sons  were  all  dead,  and  il    was  unlikely  that 

Bhould  leave  him  any  other  heir  than  the  Princess  Mary. 
T  te  king  was  naturally  anxious  concerning  her  succession, 
for  no  woman  had  yel  reigned  in  England.  He  now  (1525) 
suspected  that  the  death  of  his  sons  (showed  thai  the  marriage 
was  accursed  ;  he  had  moreover  been  attracted  by  the  wit 
1  beauty  of  Anne  Boleyn.  a  lady  of  the  queen's  liou.se- 
hold.  Superstition  or  passion  prompted  him  to  pul  away 
his  wil  >tacles  confronl  d  him.      A  pope  had 

I  the  union,  and  only  a  papal  divorce  might  dissolve  it. 
The    n       .   Clemen!    VII.,    was    under    the    thumb    of    the 

peror  Charles,  and  dared  not  disgrace  t  at  monarch's  un- 
happy aunt.  The  queen  p  id  that  she  had  been  a  true 
andloyal  wife  and  could  nol  be  pul  away  without  sin.  I A 
1529  an  Italian.  Card  nal  Campeggio,  was  senl    by   the  pope 

with   Cardinal    Wolsey,  bu1    before   the 

e  sentence  the  pope  stopped  the  proceedings 

ami  transfi  rred  the  case  to  1!  ime.      M  iddened  at    this  turn 

of  affairs  the  kim_c  stripped  his  favorite  of  his  offices,  horn 

and  wealth  (1520),  and  would  have  brought  him  to  the  Uoek 

i,  hut  disease  claimed  the  broken-spirited 
in. in  b  fore  '■'   i  ■  ached  his  prii  Ho  died,  at  1  i  r  in 


168  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

1530.     Among  his  last  words  being  those  which  Shakespeare 
put  into  verse: 

"  0  Cromwell,  Cromwell  I 
Had  I  but  served  my  God  with  half  the  zeal 
I  served  my  kins;,  he  would  not  in  m  ne.  ago 
Have  left  me  naked  to  mine  enemies." 

The  great  cardinal's  real  successor  in  the  royal  favor  was 
Thomas  Cromwell,  a  man  of  obscure  origin  who,  after  a 
strange  variety  of  employments,  had  attached  himself  to 
Wolsey's  fortunes  and  clung  to  his  master  to  the  end. 
He  combined  shrewdness  with  audacity  to  a  degree  which 
made  him  the  ideal  minister  of  an  absolute  ruler  like  Henry, 
who  fixed  his  mind  on  definite  objects,  and  suffered  no 
earthly  obstacle  to  block  his  path.  The  opposition  of  the 
pope  now  shut  the  king  from  his  dearest  wish — divorce  and 
a  new  marriage. 

Cromwell  audaciously  advised  the  king  to  disavow  the 
pope's  authority,  and  to  annul  the  divorce  himself  At 
first  the  monarch  shrank  from  such  a  step,  and  by  the 
advice  of  Cranmer,  whom  he  was  rapidly  advancing  to  the 
archbishopric  of  Canterbury,  he  called  upon  the  universities 
of  Europe  to  pronounce  upon  the  validity  of  his  marriage 
with  his  brother's  widow.  By  unblushing  bribery  he  ob- 
tained a  favorable  opinion  from  a  portion  of  these  scholars, 
although  the  best  men  were  unanimous  against  the  divorce. 
This  flimsy  indorsement  served  the  purpose.  Archbishop 
Cranmer  pronounced  the  divorce-  (May,  1533).  The  king  had 
already  (in  January,  1533)  married  Anne  Boleyn,  the  gay 
maid  of  honor. 

By  this  act  the  pope  was  openhr  defied.  He  declared 
the  king  excommunicated;  and  annulled  the  divorce;  but 
Henry's  will,  upheld — if  indeed  need  were — by  the  statesman 
Cromwell  and  the  prelate  Cranmer,  was  inflexible.  His  Par- 
liament of  1534  passed  the  acts  of  Supremacy  and  Succession, 
the   former  declaring    the   king  to    be    the   "  only  supremo 


Tin:   Ti  DOB    M"\  \i:<  us.  U'.!» 

head  on  earth  of  the  Church  of  England,"  the  latter  disinher- 
iting the  Princess  Mary,  and  making  Elizabeth,  the  new-born 
daughter  of  Anne  Boleyn,  heir  to  Henry's  throne.  Hence- 
forth do  appeals  from  English  ecclesiatical  courts  should  be 
decided  in  Koine  ;  the  papal  revenues  from  English  churches 
were  Btopped,  and  the  king  became  what  the  pope  had  been 
Bince  St.  Augustine  entered  Canterbury,  the  spiritual  and 
temporal  master  ofthe  English  Church.  To  Thomas  Crom- 
well, as  vicar-general,  the  king  deputed  his  limitless  eccle- 
siastical power. 

Refusal  to  accept  the  Act  of  Succession  was  treason,  and 
this  act  included  recognition  of  the  validity  of  the  divorce, 
an  admission  which  a  devout  Catholic  could  scarcely  make. 
The  act  became  in  Cromwell's  hands  a  weapon  of  persecu- 
tion. With  it  he  convicted  the  leading  Catholics  of  treason. 
Sir  Thomas  More,  the  chancellor,  was  among  the  earliest,  as 
lie  was  among  the  noblest,  victims.  .John  Fisher,  Bishop  of 
Rochester,  was  beheaded  for  obedience  to  his  conscience 
(1535). 

Cromwell  was  not  content  with  striking  here  and  there  a 
leader  among  the  opposite  party.  He  served  his  king  with 
a  zeal  surpassing  thai  which  the  dying  Wolsey  lamented. 
The  Church  which  Henry  had  dow separated  from  Koine  by 
law  in u ~ t  be  thoroughly  subservienl  to  the  king.  It-  reve- 
nue, it-  court-,  it >  offices,  it-  lands,  it-  very  doctrines  must 
be  at  hi-  disposal.  The  power  delegated  to  the  \  icar-general 
was  sufficient  to  accomplish  this  design.  Fresh  enactments 
gave  the  monarch  the  appointment  of  all  bishops,  and  a  new 
and  startling  movement  brought  its  property  and  revenues 
under  royal  control;  this  was  the  dissolution  of  the  mon- 
asteri 

Several  hundred  of  these  monkish  cloisters  existed  in  the 

kingdom.     They  had  originated  In  a  fervent  desire  to  spread 

the  Go  pel  and  cultivate  holiness  of  life.    For  a  long  period 

they  had  fulfilled  their  design,  and  t  hrough  the  I  terk  Ages  they 

"  a 


170  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

preserved  whatever  was  preserved  of  art,  science,  and  litera- 
ture. But  most  of  them  had  lost  their  high  aims.  The  monks 
of  the  sixteenth  century  were  rich  and  worldly.  By  pur- 
chase and  bequest  they  had  acquired  one  fifth  of  the  soil  of 
England,  and  the  pursuit  of  wealth  and  luxury  had  super- 
seded the  quest  for  heavenly  things.  Popular  report  said 
that  the  convents  were  the  abodes  of  luxury  and  vice. 
The  commissioners  whom  Cromwell  sent  to  investigate 
the  affairs  of  these  religious  houses  reported  to  Parliament 
in  1536  that  a  minority  of  the  cloisters  were  well  managed, 
but  that  drunkenness  and  vice  prevailed  in  two  thirds  of 
the  number.  These  latter  were  in  general  the  smaller  estab- 
lishments, and  these  (376  in  number)  were  now  suppressed, 
their  revenues  being  turned  into  the  royal  treasury. 

The  few  larger  abbeys  remained  untouched  while  the 
many  small  houses  were  broken  up.  It  seems  that  many  ot 
the  latter  were  prized  in  the  communities  in  which  they  had 
existed.  In  the  north  of  England  the  monasteries  were  in 
favor  with  the  common  people,  and  the  bitterness  caused  by 
their  abolition  became  a  revolt.  Robert  Aske,  a  young  Catho- 
lic lawyer  in  one  of  the  northern  counties,  headed  a  rebellion 
called  "The  Pilgrimage  of  Grace  "  (1536),  and  many  Catho- 
lic lords  and  Yorkist  nobles  openly  or  in  secret  abetted  this 
uprising.  Thirty  thousand  armed  men  protested  against  the 
arbitrary  rule  of  Cromwell,  the  separation  from  Rome,  and 
the  disinheritance  of  Mary.  Henry's  minister  dealt  with  the 
rebels  as  Richard  II.  had  dealt  with  Wat  Tyler  and  the  in- 
surgent peasantry  of  Kent  and  Essex.  The  army  at  his  dis- 
posal was  weak,  but  at  his  promise  to  comply  with  the  chief 
points  in  their  demand  the  "  pilgrims  "  dispersed  joyfully  to 
their  homes.  Then  Cromwell  gathered  force  and  swept  through 
the  north  with  an  avenging  sword.  He  broke  his  pledges  of 
reform  (1537),  and  hunted  the  rebels  to  exile  or  death.  The 
lords  and  abbots  fared  worse,  and  a  long  line  of  noble  names 
was  added  to  the  list  of  traitors  hanged  on  Tyburn  gallows. 


Tuk  TriKu;  Monaki  n>.  171 

Such  displays  of  tyranny  aroused  the  English  spirit  to 
resist.  Bui  the  civil  war-  and  the  jailers  and  headsmen  of 
Henry  VII.  ha<l  left  few  men  or  women  of  the  Plantagenel 
family  t>>  whom  the  disaffected  Bubjects  mighl  offer  the 
abused  crown.  One  of  the  Burviving  Yorkists  was  Henry 
Courtenay,  Marquis  of  Exeter,  a  grandson  of  Edward  IV. 
He  lived  in  an  atmosphere  of  plots;  for  every  man  who  hated 
Henry  Tudor  hoped  for  better  things  under  Henry  Courtenay. 
Exeter,  with  Ins  brother,  Lord  Montague,  and  his  mother, 
the  countess  of  Salisbury,  were  executed  in  1539  for  treason. 

At  the  same  time  a  new  campaign  was  begun  against  the 
monasteries  which  remained.  The  abbots,  fearing  the  conse- 
quences  of  delay,  surrendered  their  estates  to  the  king — some 
had  already  fallen  to  him  by  the  treason  of  their  occupants. 
To  the  monks  thus  deprived  of  their  homes  pensions  were 
granted.  Some  of  the  Church  lands  were  sold,  others  granted 
to  favorites  of  the  king — all  went  to  increase  the  holdings  of 
nobles  and  gentry,  and   to  strengthen  these   classes   against  a 

restoration  of  monasticism. 

N  "t   all   the  violence  which   accompanied   the   abolition    of 

the  monasteries  arose  from  the  mere  separation  of  the 
Church  from  Rome,  or  the  edict  againsl   religious  establish* 

m.  nt-.  A  more  powerful  influence  was  working  in  the 
minds  of  Englishmen.  The  Church  which  had  been  cut 
loose  from  Roman  rule  was  aboul  to  cul  loose  from  Roman 
doctrine-.  The  belief  as  well  as  the  organization  of  the 
clergy  was  to  undergo  a  change.  The  Protestant  reforma- 
tion wad  at  hand. 

Bj  th(  year  1546,  the  date  of  Luther's  death,  Protestant* 
ism  had  reached  its  fullest  extenl  on  the  Continent.  This 
nil  had  it-  influence  upon  England,  where  \Vi<lii"s 
Bible  and  Lollardy  had  prepared  the  Boil  for  good  Beed. 
The  early  years  of  Henry  VIII. ~  reign  coincided  with  the 
I  iod  of  the  greatest  excitemenl  over  the  Lutheran  revolt) 
and  in  the  controversy  of  those  time-  the  king  was  the  ally 


172  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

of  the  pope.  As  his  sword  was  at  the  pope's  service  in  the 
Holy  League,  his  pen  was  also  wielded  in  the  war  of  words. 
In  1522  Henry  put  forth  a  book  in  defense  of  Catholic  doc- 
trine, for  which  the  pope  dubbed  him  "  Defender  of  the 
Faith,"  and  which  called  out  Luther's  remark,  "  When  God 
wants  a  fool  he  lets  a  king  teach  theology."  This  was  in 
1522,  before  the  divorce  question  set  all  old  notions  aside. 
Wolsey  was  a  faithful  Catholic,  and  he  attempted  by  persecu- 
tion to  prevent  the  spread  of  the  new  ideas  in  England.  Nor- 
folk and  More,  his  immediate  successors,  continued  this  part 
of  his  policy,  but  Cromwell  reversed  it. 

What  the  vicar-general  believed  we  cannot  say,  but  his 
influence  certainly  favored  the  Protestants.  His  ally,  the 
primate  Cranmer,  was  instilled  with  Lutheran  doctrines, 
though  he  did  not  desire  to  force  them  on  the  Church  in 
opposition  to  the  royal  will.  For  a  time  the  king  let  himself 
be  ruled  by  the  vicar-general  and  the  archbishop.  In  1536 
Coverdale's  edition  of  the  English  Bible,  which  William 
Tyndale  had  translated,  was  not  only  published  in  En- 
gland but  by  royal  command  appointed  to  be  read  in  the 
churches  (1538).  Two  years  before  new  articles  of  religion 
were  set  forth,  by  the  king's  own  hand,  prescribing  what 
Christians  should  believe.  They  simplified  the  Roman  for- 
mula, but  retained  its  most  important  features,  lagging  far 
behind  the  radicalism  of  Luther  and  the  Swiss  and  French 
reformers.  Henry  himself  was  no  Protestant.  Only  neces- 
sity had  forced  him  to  break  with  the  papacy,  and  he  hated 
Luther  as  soundly  after  the  divorce  as  before  it. 

The  outrageous  conduct  of  the  people,  who  vandalized  the 
abbey  churches  and  insulted  the  priests  at  mass,  caused  the 
king  to  draw  back  from  all  reforms  of  doctrine  which  looked 
toward  Protestantism.  In  1539  the  "  Six  Articles,"  the  hate- 
ful "  whip  of  six  strings  "  for  the  correction  of  Protestants, 
was  enacted  in  accordance  with  his  wish  by  Parliament.  It 
declared  six  points  of  doctrine,  the  denial  of  any  one  being 


Thk  Tudob  Monarchs.  \"a 

heresy;  the  heretic  punishable  with  death  on  the  second,  if 
not  the  first,  off ense.  The  six  strings  were  :  l.  Transubst  ini- 
tiation— the  dogma  that  the  blessing  of  the  priests  at  com- 
munion transforms  the  bread  and  wine  into  the  actual  body 
and  blood  of  Christ.  2.  Communion  in  only  one  kind 
(bread)  for  laymen,  x.  Celibacy  of  the  priesthood.  (Luther 
and  Ins  preachers  were  married.)  4.  Inviolability  of  VOWB 
of  chastity  made  by  monks  and  nuns.  5.  Necessity  of  pri- 
vate masses.  G.  Necessity  of  confession  of  sins  to  a  priest. 
The  heavy  penalties  consequent  upon  infraction  of  these  ar- 
ticles were  kept  off  by  the  hand  of  Cromwell. 

But  Cromwell,  though  yet  strong,  was  besel  by  enemies. 

The  despoiled  m<*iks,  the  subjected  clergy,  the  proud  nobles, 
who  chafed  at  the  supremacy  of  a  man  of  common  birth,  all 
strove  to  poison  the  king's  mind  against  him.  As  Cromwell's 
advice  in  regard  to  the  divorce  of  one  queen  was  the  means 
of  his  ]•;>.,■,  his  recommendation  of  another  hastened  his  fall. 

In  1536  Anne  Boleyn,  whose  family  were  of  the  Protestant 
faction,  incurred  the  king's  disapproval;  a  Bubservienl  Par- 
liament declared  the  marriage  void  by  reason  of  her  unfaith- 
fulness. She  was  executed  as  a  traitor,  and  her  widowed 
husband  solaced  himself  next  day  by  marrying  .lane  Sey- 
mour. She  died  in  1537, giving  birth  t<>  a  son,  Edward,  who 
became  heir  t<>  the  throne,  his  half-sisters,  .Mary  the  Catholic 

and  Elizabeth,  having  been  debarred  from  1 1 1 « -  siicc-s^i ,M 

the  ground  of  illegitimacy.  For  three  years  the  sovereign 
lived  single,  taking  his  fourth  wife,  in  1540,  on  the  word  of  his 

minister  CromwelL  This  marriage  was  one  of  Cromwell's 
prudent  measures  to  gain  a  political  alliance  with  the  Prot- 
estant princes  of  <  rermany.  The  lady  was  a  <  lerman  of  noble 
family,  sister  of  the  elector  of  Saxony.  Bui  she  was  tall, 
roe, and  ill-featured— " a  Flanders  mare!"  the  rough  king 

said     when    he    tir-l    saw     his    bride.        Her    homely    lace    was 

Cromwell's   death-warrant.      Henry    withdrew    his   Bupport 

from    the    m.iii  who,  as    he    thought,  hail    tricked    him.      The 


174  An  Outline  History  op  England. 

Catholic  Howard,  Duke  of  Norfolk,  the  leading  noble,  accused 
the  vicar-general  of  treason.  Conviction,  without  a  hearing, 
and  execution  followed  in  a  few  days,  and  in  July,  1540,  one 
of  the  strongest  heads  that  ever  directed  English  affairs  fell 
beneath  the  axman's  stroke.  As  for  poor  Anne,  the  king  soon 
cast  her  off,  and  married  in  her  stead  Catherine  Howard,  a 
niece  of  the  duke  of  Norfolk. 

From  the  death  of  Cromwell  (1540)  until  shortly  before 
the  death  of  the  king  (1547),  the  Howards — Norfolk,  and  his 
son,  the  poet  Surrey — were  the  chief  ministers  of  the  govern- 
ment. Henry  himself  was  personally  supreme  in  the  king- 
dom, and  exercised  through  his  ministers  greater  powers 
than  had  been  wielded  by  any  king  since  Magna  Charta. 

Parliament  met,  it  is  true,  with  considerable  regularity,  but 
neither  House  dared,  or  cared,  to  run  counter  to  the  will  of 
the  sovereign.  In  the  House  of  Lords  the  power  of  the 
Church  had  been  crushed;  for  the  mitered  abbots  sat  there 
no  longer,  and  the  bishops  were  the  nominees  of  the  king. 
The  temporal  peers  were  equally  submissive.  Gibbet  and 
block  had  removed  the  men  who  might  have  led  an  opposi- 
tion, and  grants  from  the  Church  lands  had  bound  the  others 
to  their  royal  patron.  A  new  landed  aristocracy  had  been 
founded  by  the  distribution  of  the  broad  acres  of  the  monks, 
and  far  more  of  the  leading  families  of  England  date  their 
prominence  from  the  conquest  of  the  English  Church  by 
Henry  than  from  the  conquest  of  the  island  by  William 
the  Norman.  The  commons  were  scarcely  behind  the  lords 
in  their  obedience  to  the  wishes  of  the  sovereign,  for  the 
members  of  the  lower  house  knew  the  color  of  Henry's  gold, 
and  had  shared  in  the  plunder  of  the  convents. 

Thus  constituted,  Parliament,  established  as  a  check 
upon  royal  authority,  became  a  tool  of  tyranny.  The  king's 
own  court  of  Star-Chamber  was  not  so  quick  to  pass  sentence 
on  his  enemies  as  this  Parliament,  whose  bills  of  attainder — 
at  an  hour's  notice,  and  without  a  hearing — tried,  condemned, 


Tin:   Tl  DOB    MoNARCHS,  175 

and  sentenced  to  confiscation  and  death  whomsoever  the 

king  would  destroy. 

The  duke  of  Norfolk  was  a  Catholic  and  a  papist,  bat  none 
dared  whisper  to  the  king  the  possibility  of  restoring  the  papal 
authority  in  the  English  Church.  Henry  had  not  gone  far 
toward  Protestantism,  but  he  had  settled  this  one  point  for- 
ever:  that  no  Italian  pope  should  supplant  an  English  king 
in  any  department  of  Church  or  State.  On  the  Continent  his 
sympathies  were  with  the  pope  against  the  Protestants. 

Reform  in  the  Church  lie  undoubtedly  desired,  and  to 
some  extent  he  carried  his  desire  into  execution.  The  serv- 
ice in  English  churches  was  pruned  of  certain  superstitious 
practices  ;  the  litany  and  prayers  were  revised  and  printed 
in  English,  and,  with  some  restrictions,  the  English  Bible 
was  recommended  to  the  people  as  the  ground  of  their  faith 
and  life. 

The  king  and  the  men  who  stood  with  him  against  the 
Lutheran  reformation  hoped  that  a  universal  council  of 
Christendom  might  peacefully  incorporate  these  moderate 
changes  in  the  Roman  Church, and  thus  stay,  if  not  close,  the 
Bchism  which  was  rending  the  Catholics  of  western  Europe. 
In  L543    Henry  is  again  found    in  alliance  with  the  emperor 

Charles  V.  for  a  war  with  Prance.  Leagued  with  Charles  he 
hoped  to  Bway  the  proposed  <  latholic  council  to  his  moderate 
schedule  of  reform;  but  the  council  held  at  Trent  in  L54S 
was  a  disappointment.  It  denounced  with  unmeasured 
vehemence  the  heresies  of  England,  as  well  as  those  of  the 
German  reformers,  and  it  upheld  without,  apology  the  super- 
- 1 i : i < . ? i -  and  errors  against   which   Luther  had  raised  protest, 

and    which    the     English    had    abandoned.      The    Council    of 

Trent  determined  that  there  should  be  no  compromise 
between  Rome  and   Protestantism,  and   Henry's  hope  fa. led 

when  the  emperor  took  BideS  with  the  pope. 

Bot  the  theologians  had  no  terrors  for  the  English  king, 
if,-  refused  to  retrace  a   Bingle  step  which  separated   him 


176  Ax  Outline  History  of  En.gland. 

from  the  papacy,  nor  would  lie  advance  further  toward  the 
Protestantism  which  was  growing  around  him.  While  lines 
between  the  two  parties  were  being  more  strictly  drawn,  the 
Howards  and  Bishop  Gardiner  leading  the  Catholics,  and 
Cranmer  and  Latimer  showing  more  of  the  Protestant  color, 
King  Henry  stood  by  himself,  leaning  toward  neither  faction. 
Anne  Askew  and  three  others,  wTho  denied  the  first  of  the 
six  articles,  were  burned  for  their  heresy;  but  on  the  other 
side  Bishop  Latimer,  the  most  powerful  preacher  in  England, 
the  royal  chaplain,  was  acquitted  of  heretical  guilt. 

Shortly  before  his  death  the  king  changed  ministers  again; 
the  Howards  went  to  the  Tower,  and  the  Seymours,  the  earl 
of  Hertford  at  their  head,  came  to  the  council-board.  The 
earl  of  Surrey  died  a  traitor's  death,  but  Norfolk  remained 
alive  in  prison  when  the  king,  Henry  VIII.,  breathed  his  last, 
January  28,  1547.  Catherine  Howard  had  already  been  exe- 
cuted for  unwifely  conduct,  which  was  accounted  treason, 
and  the  king  had  taken  a  sixth  wife,  Catherine  Parr,  wrho 
outlived  her  much-married  lord. 

The  wars  of  Henry's  later  years  had  been  of  slight  im- 
portance. In  Scotland  the  authority  of  the  pope  wras  still 
acknowledged,  and  the  influence  of  France  was  ever  present 
to  keep  alive  the  old  hatred  of  England.  Henry  VII.  had 
married  his  daughter,  Margaret,  to  James  IV.,  King  of  Scots, 
in  the  hope  of  forming  a  bond  of  peace  and  friendship  be- 
tween two  kingdoms  of  common  race  and  interests;  but  the 
Scots  continued  to  take  their  orders  from  France.  James 
V.,  whose  army  invaded  England  in  1542,  was  the  son  of 
Henry  VIII. 's  sister  Margaret,  but  the  blood-bond  counted 
for  nothing  in  the  war  which  followed.  After  the  diserrace- 
ful  conduct  of  his  cowardly  troops  at  Solway  Moss  he  re- 
turned to  Scotland  to  die.  Undismayed  by  Uhe  failure  of 
his  father's  policy,  the  English  king  made  peace  with  Scot- 
land, one  condition  being  the  marriage  of  James's  little 
•laughter,  Mary  Stuart,  with  his  own  son  by  Jane  Seymour, 


Tin:  Ti  dob  Mowabchs.  177 

Prince  Edward.  Had  tliis  been  consummated  the  union  of 
tin-  two  kingdoms  might  have  been  anticipated  by  fifty 
wars.  Bui  it  was  not  to  be.  The  French  party  in  the  north- 
ern kingdom  defeated  the  negotiation,  and  Henry  renewed 
the  war,  sending  Edward  Seymour,  Karl  of  Hertford,  to 
ravage  the  Lowlands,  a  commission  which  was  unsparingly 
performed.  An  invasion  of  France  ensued,  to  punish  that 
nation  for  its  work  in  Scotland.  The  campaign  ended,  how- 
ever, without  important  acquisitions.  In  this  reign  Wales 
was  incorporated  with  England  (1586),  and  no  distinction 
held  henceforth  between  Welshmen  and  Englishmen. 


178  An  Outline  History  of  England. 


CHAPTER  XI. 

THE   LATER  TUDORS.     1547  A.  D.-1603  A.  D. 

FROM  THE  ACCESSION  OF  EDWARD  VI.    TO  THE  DEATH  OF  ELIZABETH. 

Thkee  children  of  Henry  VIII.  survived  their  father. 
Mary,  daughter  of  Catharine  of  Aragon,  was  the  eldest; 
Elizabeth,  Anne  Boleyn's  daughter,  was  next  in  age,  and 
Edward,  the  nine-year-old  son  of  Jane  Seymour,  was  the 
youngest.  The  question  of  the  succession  had  sorely  vexed  the 
king,  and  at  his  request  Parliament  had  made  several  separate 
settlements.  Mary  was  first  made  heir,  but  the  divorce  made 
her  an  illegitimate  child  and  desti'oyed  her  claim.  Then 
Elizabeth  was  chosen,  but  by  her  mother's  "  treason  "  her 
claim  also  was  forfeited.  Finally  the  king  was  empowered 
to  determine  for  himself  the  line  of  inheritance.  He  named 
his  son  as  his  successor,  and,  in  case  Edward  should  die  with- 
out issue,  directed  that  the  inheritance  should  pass  in  order 
to  the  Princess  Mary,  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  and  then  to  the 
heirs  of  Henry  VII. 's  daughter  Mary  Brandon,  Duchess  of 
Suffolk.  The  will  furthermore  appointed  a  commission  of 
sixteen  men  to  govern  the  kingdom  until  Edward  should 
attain  his  majority. 

Unwilling  to  commit  the  government  wholly  either 
to  the  Reformation  or  to  Rome  the  king  had  shrewdly 
mingled  the  two  English  parties  in  the  composition  of  this 
council  of  regency,  but  the  ambition  of  one  of  its  members, 
Edward  Seymour,  Earl  of  Hertford,  frustrated  the  plans  of 
the  king.  Seymour  was  in  sympathy  with  the  Reformation. 
He  was  Queen  Jane  Seymour's  brother,  and  uncle  of  Edward 
VI.,  and  he  was  executor  of   the  royal  will.     Making  the 


'I'm:    L  vi  i:i:  Ti  DORS.  I  ;<.i 

best  of  his  advantages  he  excluded  Gardiner,  the  strongest  of 
the  Catholics,  from  the  council,  gained  possession  of  the 
person  of  the  hoy-king,  and  had  himself  declared  duke  of 
Somerset  and  "  Protector  of  the  Realm."     Under  this  title 

lie  exercised  full  royal  power  in  the  name  of  his  nephew, 
Edward  VI. 

To  complete  the  work  which  King  Henry  had  under- 
taken in  Scotland  was  Somerset's  first  duty.  The  mar- 
riage treaty  which  was  to  unite  King  Edward  with  Mary 
Stuart  was  yet  unfulfilled,  and  the  benefits  which  would  ac- 
crue from  its  fulfillment  seemed  to  warrant  every  exertion 
to  attain  that  end.  The  safety  of  England  was  continually 
imperiled  by  the  near  neighborhood  of  Scotland,  the  friend 
of  France  and  Rome.  The  Protector  led  an  army  across  the 
border  to  enforce  the  marriage  treaty,  and  defeated  the 
Scottish  lords  at  Pinkie,  not  far  from  Edinburgh,  September 
10,  1547.  Much  renown  his  victory  gave  the  English  arms 
yet  the  campaign  must  be  reckoned  a  failure,  for  Queen  Marx- 
did  not  fall  into  English  hands;  on  the  contrary,  she  was  well 
guarded  by  the  Catholic  party,  who  took  her  to  France  (1548) 

and  destroyed  the  hopes  of  the  duke  by  betrothing  her  to 
the  dauphin,  afterward  Francis  II.  England  had  only  a 
few  trophies,  some  useless  prisoners,  and  a  heavy  debt  to 
sh«>w  \'<>v  the  blood  and  treasure  spent  in  the  war. 

The  Protestant  party  was  unchecked  throughout  the  reign 
of  Edward  VI.  (1547—1553).  Somersel  was  its  natural 
h-.tdcr  and  Cranmer  his  willing  assistant  in  all  matters  of 
Church  reform.  In  Henry's  time  the  archbishop,  though  in- 
clining toward  the  new  doctrines,  had  allowed  himself  to  he 
governed     by    the    king's    will,   and    had    not     permitted     his 

Protestantism  to  injure  him  in  the  king's  favor.  He  had 
married  a  wife  in  Germany,  taking  example  by  the  Lutheran 

priest^,   lmt    at    sight    of    the    whip   of    six     BtringS    he    igno- 

rainiously  deserted  her.     Yet  Protestant  he  was  by  sympathy 

and  belief,  and  the  accession  of  Edward,  relieving  him  of  his 


180  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

fears,  left  him  free  to  bring  the  English  Church  into  con- 
formity with  the  reformed  doctrines.  Other  bishops — the 
learned  Ridley  of  London,  the  eloquent  Latimer  of  Worces- 
ter— and  such  theologians  as  Bucer  and  Peter  Martyr,  aided 
Cranmer  by  their  labors.  The  historian  Hallam  sums  up  in 
six  paragraphs  the  innovations  which  were  forced  upon  the 
English  Church  in  the  reign  of  Edward  VI. 

1.  English  supplanted  Latin  as  the  language  of  the  serv- 
ice. Prayer,  homily,  and  hymn  were  henceforth  in  a  speech 
understood  of  the  people.  From  the  Romish  missal  and 
breviary,  with  such  excisions  and  additions  as  the  revised 
creed  required,  Cranmer  translated  the  first  Rook  of 
Common  Prayer  (1548),  the  prayer-book  (with  slight  re- 
visions) of  the  English  Church  to-day. 

2.  Statues,  paintings,  windows,  and  altars  which  were 
connected  with  the  churches,  and  which  the  ignorant  popu- 
lace had  regarded  with  a  veneration  which  approached 
idolatry,  were  now  destroyed,  and  ceremonials,  such  as  the 
use  of  incense,  tapers,  and  holy  water,  were  abrogated. 

3.  The  adoration  of  the  saints  and  the  Virgin  Mary  was 
forbidden,  the  doctrine  of  purgatory  was  denied,  and  prayers 
for  the  souls  of  the  dead  were  given  up. 

4.  Auricular  confession  was  made  optional.  Henceforth 
the  believer  might  or  might  not  confess  his  sins  in  the  ear  of 
the  priest  and  receive  absolution.  This  liberty  soon  put  an 
end  to  the  use  of  the  confessional  in  England. 

5.  The  Catholic  doctrine  of  transubstantiation  was 
abandoned,  and  "the  doctrine  of  the  real  presence  of  the 
body  and  blood  in  the  bread  and  wine  of  the  communion- 
table "was  explicitly  denied." 

6.  Lastly,  priests  were  allowed  to  marry. 

By  the  repeal  of  the  six  articles  the  whip  of  six  strings 
was  broken.  The  harsh  laws  against  Lol lardy  were  erased 
from  the  statute  books,  for  the  leaders  of  the  Church  now 
held   the   beliefs   for  which    Wiclif's    followers    had    been 


Thk  Lateb  TuDORfi  i  B  i 

«» 
persecuted.      Forty-two  articles  of  religion  were  set  forth 

in  1552  by  Cranmer,  embodying  the  principles  of  the  Refor- 
mation. The  ('mission  of  three  lias  left  them  the  thirty-nine 
articles  which  still  contain  the  Anglican  creed. 

These  changes  were  forced  down  into  the  Church  from 
the  top.  A  few  statesmen  and  prelates,  the  merchants  of 
London  and  the  large  towns  of  the  east,  the  scholars  of  the 
universities,  were  heartily  in  favor  of  the  reform,  but  there 
was  no  Buch  feeling  among  the  peasantry.  They  wanted 
back  their  old  priests,  the  mysterions  ceremonies,  Latin 
chants,  and  wonder-working  relies  which  had  been  the 
attractive  part  of  their  religion.  With  the  destruction  of 
the  monasteries,  now  followed  by  the  suppression  of  several 
hundred  chantries  and  colleges,  hard  times  had  dawned  for 
the  peasants.  The  new  land  owners  living  in  London  were 
more  exacting  than  the  monkish  landlords. 

Moreover  a  new  industry  was  supplanting  the  husbandry 
which  had  employed  the  peasant  farmers.  The  value  of  En- 
glish wool,  rising  steadily  with  the  growth  of  cloth  manufact- 
ure in  Flanders,  turned  the  English  plow-land  into  sheep 
farm-.  Many  tenant^  were  evicted  from  their  small  holdings 
to  make  room  for  these  pastures,  and  much  land  which  had 
lain  common  was  seized  by    tin-  manor  lords  and  inclosed  for 

private  us,'.     Wages  dropped  as  the  price  of  food  mounted 

higher. 

It  was  natural  for  the  ignoranl  to  believ< — as  their  priests 
doubtless  told  them  -that  these  miseries  were  caused  by  the 
new  religion.  This  they  did  believe,  and  became  riotous  in 
their  demonstration  againsl  their  " heretical "  rulers.  In  Nor- 
folk a  tanner,  Robert  Ket,  led  a  formidable  insurrection 
againsl  the  landlords,  whose  sheep-ranges  had  orowded 
honest  industry  out  of  existence.  Ii  was  nut  the  duke  of 
Somerset  who  crushed  Ket's  revolt.     The  Catholics — a  quiel 

hul   numerous  party  in  t  hi'  council      had  always  opposed  him, 

and  when  the  Norfolk  revoll  broke  out  his  enemies  < ibined 


182  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

to  give  the  chief  command  to  their  colleague,  John  Dudley, 
Earl  of  Warwick,  son  of  that  magistrate  Dudley  who  had 
perished  with  Empson  in  the  first  months  of  Henry  VIII. 
Warwick's  energetic  campaign  against  the  rebels  strength- 
ened him  with  the  council,  which  on  his  return  deposed  Som- 
erset for  misgovernment  and  gave  the  protectorate  into  the 
hands  of  Duley  now  (1550)  duke  of  Northumberland. 

The  king  himself  remained  in  the  background  while  his 
protectors  and  archbishops  were  revolutionizing  the  Church. 
Though  a  mere  boy,  and  consumptive,  Edward  was  wonder- 
fully precocious.  Books  and  study,  especially  the  ponderous 
theological  works  with  which  the  age  abounded,  gave  him 
strange  delight.  He  loved  to  listen  to  the  sermons  of  the 
shai-p-tongued  Latimer,  and  in  what  way  he  could  he  was 
zealous  to  bring  in  the  Reformation.  By  his  order  eighteen 
grammar  schools  were  founded  in  English  towns,  and  the 
old  house  of  the  Grey  Friars  in  London  was  given  up  to 
Christ's  Hospital  for  the  famous  school  of  the  Bluecoat  boys. 
It  is  useless  to  speculate  to  what  lengths  Edward's  Prot- 
estantism would  have  carried  him  had  he  been  spared  for 
long  life.  At  the  age  of  sixteen  his  frail  constitution  yielded 
to  his  disease.     On  July  6,  1553,  he  died,  leaving  no  issue. 

Foreseeing  the  king's  untimely  end,  Northumberland  had 
formed  a  plan  for  the  succession.  By  the  terms  of  Henry's 
settlement,  the  Princess  Mary — thorough  Catholic  and  papist 
though  she  was — stood  next  after  Edward.  This  daughter  of 
Catharine  had  refused  to  accept  the  new  tenets  and  practices, 
and  had  clung  to  the  religion  of  her  father  with  true  Tudor 
obstinacy.  The  Protestants  recognized  that  she,  if  queen, 
would  show  them  no  favor.  More  concessions  might  be  ex- 
pected from  the  Princess  Elizabeth,  but  Northumberland  had 
a  private  advantage  to  serve.  By  his  advice  Edward  changed 
the  order  of  succession.  Both  princesses  were  set  aside  as 
illegitimate,  and  the  crown  was  assigned  to  the  descendants 
of  Henry's  sister  Mary,  Duchess  of  Suffolk.  The  heiress  thus 


The  La  i  bb  Tudors.  1 88 

chosen  was  Lady  Jane  Grey,  a  beautiful,  intelligent,  and 
high-spirited  Protestant  girl.  Lord  Guilford  Dudley, son  of 
Northumberland,  had  lately  married  her,  and  by  her  acces- 
sion the  son  of  the  cunning  Protector  would  doubtless  mount 
the  throne  beside  his  bride. 

The  death  of  Edward  broughl  these  plots  to  light.  Mary 
heard  of  them  and  by  flighl  eluded  the  Protector's  grasp, 
and  rallied  her  friends  to  her  support  in  Norfolk.  Lady 
Jane  was  astounded  at  the  news  that  she  was  queen  of  En- 
gland. Northumberland  proclaimed  her,  and  she  bore  the 
title  for  ten  days  (June  10-19,  looA).  But  she  had  no  real 
support  save  the  personal  following  of  her  father-in-law.  He 
raised  an  army  to  disperse  the  forces  which  gathered  about 
Mary  Tudor,  but  even  before  a  battle  his  men  deserted  to 
h.r  and  left  him  almost  alone.  With  tears  of  disappointment 
on  his  cheeks  lie  tossed  hi-  cap  in  air  at  Cambridge,  hailing 
Mary  as  his  and  England's  queen.  The  sovereign  entered 
London  with  acclaims.  Lady  .lane  and  her  husband  were 
placed  in  the  Tower,  and  Northumberland,  guilty  of  high 
treason  by  his  own  admissions,  was  beheaded.  The  Catholic 
bishops  whom  Edward's  ministers  had  deposed  were  restored 
t<>  their  cathedrals.  Latimer,  Ridley,  and  Cranmer  were  in 
their  turn  deposed,  and  the  two  latter  cast  into  prison.  Bishop 
Gardiner  became  chancellor  and  leader  of  the  council. 

Mary's  heart  was  set  upon  a  complete  restoration  of  the 
papal  power  in  England.  She  was  her  father's  daughter  iu 
the  firmness  of  her  will,  hut  otherwise  -lie  was  the  true  child 
of  her  Spanish  mother.  Her  cousin,  the  king  and  emperor 
Charles  V\,  of  Spain,  who  had  once  promised  to  marry  her,  was 
her  political  mentor.     He  was  now  too  old  to  wed,  hut   his 

-on,   Philip  of  Spain,  was  a  candidate  for  .Mary's  hand.      The 

emperor's  experience  taughl  him  the  temper  of  the  English 
people  and  lie  counseled  lii-  zealous  cousin  to  proceed  with 
moderation.     Much  a-  the  country-folk  of  England   might 

long  for  the  old  religion  the  towns-folk  were  attached  to  the 


1S4  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

neAV,  and  the  landed  proprietors  who  had  been  enriched  by 
the  spoil  of  the  abbeys  would  resist  any  thing  looking  toward 
resumption  of  Church  property. 

The  counter-revolution  was  therefore  cautiously  begun. 
The  first  backward  step  was  the  restoration  of  the  religious 
system  to  its  condition  at  the  death  of  Henry  VIIL  The 
anti-Lollard  legislation  was  revived;  the  six-stringed  whip 
became  for  the  second  time  the  test  of  orthodoxy.  Masses 
were  said  in  the  churches  and  Cranmer's  prayer-book  gave 
way  to  the  Latin  missals  and  breviaries.  Priests  who  had 
married  were  hooted  out  of  their  parishes  and  efforts  were 
made  to  rehabilitate  the  saints  and  Virgin  in  the  popular  re- 
gard. In  general  this  reaction  took  place  quietly;  in  some 
quarters  it  was  hailed  with  delight,  for  the  populace  had  not 
kept  pace  with  the  bishops,  and  the  orders  to  believe  this 
doctrine  and  deny  that  dogma  had  fallen  upon  uncompre- 
hending ears.  So  far  the  queen  was  satisfied  with  the  prog- 
ress of  her  reign;  the  wise  emperor  counseled  her  against 
forcing  her  people  to  accept  the  pope's  supremacy  again  or 
to  give  back  the  lands  and  revenues  which  they  derived 
from  the  distribution  of  the  property  of  the  Church.  As  long 
as  she  was  content  with  this  moderation  Mary  retained  a 
measure  of  popularity.  It  was  the  project  of  the  "Spanish 
marriage  "  which  first  turned  her  subjects  from  her. 

The  emperor  urged  the  queen  to  fortify  her  position  by 
marrying  his  son  Philip,  heir  to  his  possessions  in  Spain, 
Italy,  and  the  Low  Countries.  Philip  was  a  Catholic  of  the 
bigoted  stripe,  and  Mary's  union  with  him  would  insure  the 
supremacy  of  the  pope  in  England,  and  might  eventually 
found  a  Catholic  league,  which  should  overpower  the  Prot- 
estant princes  of  Germany,  and  heal  by  force  the  schism 
in  Christendom.  All  English  Protestants  who  lived  in 
the  hope  of  better  times  ahead,  all  English  patriots  who 
dreaded  the  interference  of  foreign  pope  or  king  in  England's 
government,    all   selfish   lords    and   commons    whose   share 


Tin:  Latkb  Tuboes.  185 

in' the  Church  lands  bound  them  to  uphold  the  system  of 
Bong  Henry  VIII.,  were  united  against  the  proposed 
match. 

There  were  isolated  risings  againsl  the  marriage  in  the 
western  counties,  and  in  Knit  fifteen  thousand  men  gathered 
under  Sir  Thomas  Wyatt  and  swooped   down  on   London. 

The  queen  had  few  troops,  bul  she  had  the  dauntless  M 1 

of  a  Tudor,  and  her  personal  courage  called  twenty  thou- 
sand I. on. loners  to  her  defense.  "Stand  fast  againsl  these 
rebels,"  she  cried  in  her  harsh,  man's  voice.  "  Fear  them  not, 
for  I  assure  you  I  fear  them  nothing  at  all."  Wyatt  was 
captured  and  beheaded.  There  had  been  talk  of  putting 
Lady  Jane  Grey  in  Mary's  place;  her  execution,  with  that 
of  Lord  Dudley,  her  husband,  dispelled  such  treasonable 
rumor-.  Some  of  the  rebels  had  cheered  for  the  Princess 
Elizabeth  and  Edward  Courtenay,  and  Mary  thought  best 
to  lodge  them  in  the  Tower.  The  emperor  thought  the 
BCaffold  a  titter  place  for  them,  but  ."Mary's  English  advisers 
dared  not  tempt  English  loyalty  too  far,  and  after  a  time 
Courtenay  went   abroad,  and  Elizabeth,  in  the  seclusion  of 

Chaucer's   W IstOck,    studied    with    Roger    Ascham,    and 

romped  with  the  country  Bquires. 

The  suppression  of  the  rebellion  gave  the  queen  confi- 
dence to  uro  forward.  Parliament  consented  to  the  marriage, 
and  in  midsummer  of  1554,  Philip  of  Spain  married  his  En- 
glish bride  at  Winchester.  Bul  the  council,  though  impo- 
tent to  prevent  the  union,  had  influence  enough  to  rob  it  of 
it-  iii.  -  - 1  threatening  consequences.  The  Spaniard  was  called 
by  courtesy  King  of  England,  bul  the  jealous  parliament 
never  crowned  him,  and  denied  his  right  to  the  throne  in 
case  the  queen  should  die  childless. 

Mary's   policy   unfolded    rapidly.     To  restore    the   realm 
u ii  to  the  bosom  of  "Mother  Church"  was  her  cherished 
aim,  and  this  she  was  able  to  accomplish.     Parliament  re- 
versed the  sentence  of  treason  which  Cromwell  had  obtained 


186  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

against  Cardinal  Pole,  the  English  nobleman  whom  the  pope 
had  now  named  as  his  legate  in  England.  This  was  fol- 
lowed by  a  formal  declaration  in  favor  of  reunion  with 
Rome.  Queen  Mary,  Philip,  and  the  lords  and  commons 
of  England  went  down  on  their  knees  in  the  presence  of 
the  legate  on  the  day  of  St.  Andrew,  November  30,  1554, 
and,  humbly  confessing  their  sin  of  schism  and  rebellion, 
received  the  Church's  absolution  and  the  blessing  of  the 
pope.  Save  for  the  dismantled  abbeys,  whose  lands  were 
not  restored,  the  English  Church  now  stood  where  it  had 
been  before  Luther  dreamed  of  "justification  by  faith,"  or 
Henry  Tudor  cast  off  the  pope's  authority  that  he  might 
wed  the  lady  of  his  love. 

The  history  of  the  latter  half  of  Mary's  reign  is  a  sad  tale, 
in  which  the  queen  is  not  the  least  pitiable  figure.  In  ac- 
cordance with  her  will  to  serve  the  pope  she  undertook  to 
eradicate  the  Protestant  stain  from  her  fair  land.  The  sur- 
viving leaders  of  the  Reformation  in  the  reigns  of  Henry 
VIII.  and  Edward  VI.  paid  dearly  for  their  acts.  Bishops 
Hooper  and  Ferrar  were  condemned  for  heresy  and  burned. 
John  Rogers,  who  had  helped  Tyndale  translate  the  Script- 
ures, died  exulting  in  the  flames.  Rowland  Taylor,  vicar  of 
Hadleigh,  pious  and  beloved,  was  a  lamented  victim.  The 
learning  of  Bishop  Ridley  and  the  wit  of  Latimer  availed 
them  not.  The  two  perished  in  one  fire,  in  Oxford,  Octo- 
ber 16,  1555.  The  gray-haired  Cranmer  had  double  claims 
to  hatred,  for  he  not  only  stood  first  among  the  reforming 
clergy,  but  it  was  his  decree  which  divorced  Henry  VIII., 
and  by  that  degradation  broke  the  heart  of  Queen  Mary's 
mother,  Catharine.  The  archbishop,  right  at  heart,  perhaps, 
but  sadly  deficient  in  manly  resolution,  renounced  his  faith 
to  save  his  life.  But  Mary  was  relentless.  Six  times  the 
wavering  Cranmer  avowed  and  disavowed  his  heresy,  but 
when  they  bound  him  to  the  stake  his  spirit  grew  stronger, 
and  thrusting  forth  his  right   hand   he  held  it  steadily  in 


Tin.    Lai  11:   Ti  DOBS.  1^7 

the  hottest  flame,  exclaiming,  ''This  hand  wrote  the  recan- 
tation, and  it  shall  be  the  first  to  Buffer  punishment." 

These  names  were  nol  alone  among  the  English  martyrs. 
Smithfield  fires  burned  often  in  1556  and  1557,  and  in  other 
market-places  throughout  the  kingdom  men  and  women 
(fathered  to  Bee  how  the  heretics  would  die.  They  died  with 
honor,  and  their  heroism  did  more  than  pamphlet  and  preacher 
to  spread  the  faith  for  which  they  Buffered.  "  Play  the 
man.  Master  Ridley,"  the  dying  Latimer  had  heen  heard  to 
cry  to  his  fellow  among  the  fagots.  "We  shall  this  day 
light  such  a  candle  by  God's  grace  in  England,  as  I  trust 
-hall  never  he  put  out."  And  so  they  did,  these  martyr  bishops 
and  the  two  hundred  men  and  women  oflesser  station,  whose 
execution  fixed  upon  the  persecuting  Bishop  Bonner  and  the 
queen  the  horrid  title  "  Bloody."  Protestantism  grew  with 
each  new  act  of  repression,  and  the  miserable  queen  saw 
the  failure  of  the  terrible  policy  by  which  she  had  hoped  to 
purify  her  people. 

The  queen's  husband,  Philip,  w  hom  Bhe  loved  almost  fierce- 
ly, cared  nothing  for  her,  and  on  receiving  his  European  in- 
heritance from  his  father  (1556)  had  quitted  England,  where 
he  was  thoroughly  detested.  Mary's  most  fervent  prayer 
had  been  that  Bhe  miffhl  hear  a  son  who  should  maintain  the 
1  tholic  cause;  Bhe  was  childless  and  hopelessly  diseased. 
The  pope,  whom  Bhe  wished  heartily  to  serve,  would  not  be 
pacified  without  money  and  the  restor  ''  >w  of  the  Church 
lands.  The  portion  that  remained  in  the  possession  of  the 
crown  Bhe  did  restore,  hut  to  reclaim  from  her  powerful  Bub- 
jects  their  lands  would  have  been  to  Btir  up  a  rebellion  in 
which  all  that  she  had  gained  for  Koine  would  he  Bwept 
away  forever.  Gardiner,  her  best  adviser,  was  dead,  and 
Cardinal  Pole,  hi-  successor,  was  deemed  a  heretic  bj  Pope 
Paul  IV.  and  -tripped  of  his  ohurchly  honors. 

Philip  yielded  once  to  hi-  wife'-  desire  for  his  return. 
Hi-  stay  was  brief, and  only  added  misfortunes.     She  prom- 


188  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

ised  aid  for  his  French  campaigns,  and  sent  the  earl  of  Pem- 
broke over  with  10,000  men,  who  assisted  in  the  capture  of 
the  town  of  St.  Quentin.  But  the  English  were  too  weak  to 
defend  even  their  own.  Calais,  the  last  remnant  of  the  En- 
glish empire  on  the  Continent,  was  taken  by  the  French  in 
January,  1558.  "It  was  the  chiefest  jewel  of  the  realm," 
said  Mary.  But  wretched  administration  at  home  had  left 
her  without  means  to  undertake  its  recapture.  Its  loss  was 
not  a  serious  blow  to  England,  but  it  shamed  the  queen  to 
lose  territory  which  had  been  English  for  so  many  years. 
"When  I  die  you  will  find  Calais  written  on  my  heart," 
was  one  of  the  pitiful  outbursts  of  the  closing  months  of 
her  life.  Her  body  spent  with  sickness,  her  spirit  bruised  by 
her  terrible  disappointments,  with  scarcely  a  friend  in  the 
world,  poor  Queen  Mary  died  November  17,  1558. 

Elizabeth  Tudor,  daughter  of  Henry'  VIII.  and  Anne 
Boleyn,  immediately  succeeded  her  half-sister  Mary.  From 
1558  until  1G03  she  was  queen  of  England.  Woman  as  she 
was  she  was  no  puppet-queen ;  she  chose  her  ministers  with 
remarkable  sagacity,  and  with  no  less  wisdom  she  took  part 
in  their  councils,  and  gave  her  opinion  upon  weighty  matters 
of  State.  In  her  father's  time  her  vigorous  health  and  brill- 
iant mind  had  made  her,  though  but  a  girl,  a  favorite  at 
court.  During  the  reigns  of  Edward  VI.  and  Mary  she  had 
held  aloof  from  religious  and  political  controversies,  devoting 
herself  with  unusual  energy  to  serious  study  of  ancient  and 
modern  languages  and  to  archery,  horsemanship,  and  the 
chase — the  sports  of  young  men  of  her  own  age. 

This  busy  student  of  Greek  was  likewise  a  woman  of  the 
world  ;  fond  of  the  pomp  of  courts,  coveting  finery,  having 
gowns  by  the  hundred  in  her  wardrobe,  and  with  all  her  per- 
sonal vanity  craving  the  flattery  of  her  courtiers.  She  had  the 
stature  and  shoulders  of  her  burly  father,  the  voice  of  a  man, 
and  a  coarse  manner  of  speech  which  was  not  then  deemed 
so  unladylike  as  it  would  be  now.     She  never  married,  and 


Tiik  Latkk  Tudobs.  18§ 

though  her  favorites  were  many,  and  Bhe  took  small  pains  to 
conceal  her  fondness  for  them,  her  adoring  people  called  her 
"the  virgin  queen."     Elizabeth's  character   was   peculiarly 

adapted  for  the  situation  which  confronted  her  when  she  as- 
cended the  throne,  and  which  faced  her  during  the  first  thirty 
vears  of  her  reign.  She  was  a  hard,  cold,  intellectual  woman, 
devoid  of  Btrong  attachments  and  prejudices,  shrewd  of  dis- 
cernment, and  full  of  tact  in  devising  and  applying  policies. 
It  would  seem  impossible  for  an  English  monarch  of  any  other 
stamp  to  have  piloted  the  kingdom  through  the  perils  which 
beset  it  at  Queen  Mary's  death. 

Elizabeth  was  accepted  as  queen  without  openly  expressed 
dissent  in  any  quarter  of  her  realm.  But  this  circumstance 
gave  no  augury  for  the  future.  Although  there  was  no  En- 
glish rival  for  the  crown,  the  outlook,  both  in  England  and 
on  the  Continent,  boded  a  Btormy  reign.  Mary's  popish  policy, 
with  the  hitter  persecutions  into  which  it  had  carried  her, 
had  not  exterminated  Protestantism,  hut  it  had  aroused  a 
lively  hatred  between  the  partisans  of  the  old  and  the  re- 
formed religion. 

The  new  queen  could  not  readily  join  either  religious  party 
without  giving  offense.  Under  her  Protestanl  brother,  Ed- 
ward, Elizabeth  had  accepted  the  forty-two  articles  of  Cran- 
mer,  and  at  Mary's  accession  Bhe  had  with  as  little  difficulty 
conformed  to  the  Catholic  service.  For  herself  she  had  no 
vital  Bympathy  with  either,  and  it  was  her  aim  to  continue 
the  moderate  system  which  her  father  had  established.  <>n 
on.'  jpoint,  however,  her  mind  was  made  up:  the  Church  of 
England,  Catholi ■  Protestant,  musl  be  unite, 1.  Circum- 
stances which  the  imperious  queen  vainly  tried  to  control 
forced  her  more  and  more  to  the  side  of  the  reformers,  and 

she  was  obliged  t ake  changes  in  her  father's  creed  ;  and 

the  mosl   tyrannical  measures  of  her  reign   were  those  by 
which  -he  strove  to  force  the  reform*  ■!  doctrines  and  usa 
upon  her  reluctant  - u  1  »j< •■  its. 


190  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

The  key-note  of  Elizabeth's  purpose  was  struck  by  the  re- 
peal of  the  laws  which  had  established  the  Catholic  religion 
and  lighted  the  fires  of  persecution.  The  Church's  independ- 
ence of  the  pope  was  re-asserted,  and  all  priests  were  ordered  to 
conform  to  the  new  rules.  The  prayer-book  of  King  Edward 
and  Cranmer  was  revised  and  made  the  common  book  of  de- 
votion. Parker,  a  man  of  her  own  conservative  views,  was 
made  Archbishop  of  Canterbury.  Under  his  direction  relig- 
ious matters  settled  themselves  peacefully,  or  would  have 
done  so  had  it  not  been  for  the  religious  condition  of  Europe. 

Philip  II.  of  Spain,  whose  marriage  with  Mary  had  thrown 
England  into  a  paroxysm  of  fear,  had  inherited  the  possessions 
of  his  father,  Charles  V.,  and  become  the  strongest  monarch 
of  his  time.  He  Avas  king  of  Spain,  and  afterward  of  Portu- 
gal, of  Italy  and  the  Netherlands,  and  the  precious  metals 
and  rich  merchandise  of  India,  Africa,  and  America  supplied 
his  treasury.  On  sea  and  land  the  Spanish  forces  were  the 
most  formidable  in  Europe,  and  a  succession  of  able  generals 
directed  their  movements.  The  king,  who  exercised  absolute 
power  over  this  vast  realm,  was  a  bigoted  Romanist,  the  chosen 
champion  of  papistry.  The  Church  was  reviving  from  the 
shock  of  the  Lutheran  attack.  The  limits  of  Protestant  ter- 
ritory were  now  pretty  well  defined,  and  they  have  scarcely 
been  altered  since.  Northern  Germany,  the  Scandinavian 
countries,  Holland,  and  to  a  certain  degree  England  and 
Scotland,  no  longer  looked  to  the  pope  for  guidance.  There 
had  been  Protestants  in  Italy,  but  Philip's  hand  Avas  there 
upheld  by  the  Inquisition,  and  the  "  heresy  "  vanished  before 
him. 

A  new  fervor  inspired  the  priests  and  princes  of  Catholi- 
cism. The  "Society  of  Jesus,"  better  known  as  "Jesuits," 
founded  by  Loyola,  devoted  itself  with  a  complete  consecra- 
tion, unmatched  since  the  early  days  of  the  Church,  to  the 
task  of  redeeming  the  world  from  heresy.  In  the  Spanish 
Netherlands  the  iconoclasm  of  the  Protestants,  followers  of 


TllK   L.vn  i:    Ti  DORS,  lftl 

John  Calvin  of  Geneva,  went  to  such  extremes  that  Philip 
was  obliged  to  send  an  army  against  them.  France,  which 
ranked  next  to  Spain  among  Catholic  lands,  was  weakened 
by  the  incompetence  of  its  king,  and  by  the  religious  wars 
upon  the  French  Protestants,  or  Huguenots,  as  they  were 
called.  The  Catholics  of  Scotland,  few  in  numbers  but  ably 
led,  could  count  upon  the  support  of  France,  at  whose  court 
their  queen,  Mary  Stuart,  had  lived  from  her  infancy. 

The  circumstances  above  narrated  determined  Elizabeth's 
course.  She  could  not  be  a  Catholic,  for  no  English  Catholic 
would  recognize  her,  Anne  Boleyn's  daughter,  as  the  lawful 
successor  of  .'Mary  Tudor.  Philip  offered  her  his  hand  in 
the  hope  of  impressing  England  into  the  troop  of  Catholic 
countries  which  he  had  united  to  the  Spanish  crown.  She 
put  him  off  for  a  year,  and  then  denied  him — her  people  had 
had  enough  of  Spanish  marriages.  Then  he  sought  a  po- 
litical alliance  with  her  until  he  might  take  by  force  what 
he  might  not  win  by  favor.  But  France  feared  his  am- 
bition,  and  France,  too,  sought  an  alliance  with  the  queen. 
Catherine  de  -Medici,  the  queen-moiher,  offered  her  first  one 
prince  and  then  another  (Anjou  and  Alencon)  in  marriage, 
but  Elizabeth,  after  puzzling  coquetry,  rejected  both,  for  a 
league  with  Catholic  fiance  wras  almost  as  threatening  to 
the  peace  of  England  as  would  have  bei  □  a  connection  with 
Spain. 

Still  another  arrangement  wan  possible.  William  Cecil, 
Lord  Burleigh,  Elizabeth's  secretary  of  state  and  mosl  trusted 
advber,  favored  an  open  war.     He  wanted  England  to  rally 

all  the  Protestant  Btai  -  and  factions,  and  as   their  champion 
take  up  the  gauntlet   that    Philip  had  throw  n  down.      Bui  the 

frugal  queen  startled   the  council  with  the  rough  cry.  "  No 

war,  no    war!    my    Lords!"     She  preferred  diplomacy  and 

cunning.     Through   the  confusion  of  the  time  the  queen's 

a  England's  need  of  pence,  and  she  determined  to  post* 

DOne  a-  long  a-  possible  the  inevitable  war.      .Meanwhile,  she 


192  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

stealthily  sent  aid  to  the  Presbyterian  lords  of  Scotland,  who 
were  struggling  against  a  French  regency,  shrewdly  hindered 
Philip  in  his  war  against  the  Dutch,  and  afforded  scanty  sus- 
tenance to  the  Huguenots.  So  long  as  she  could  keep  the 
Catholics  of  Spain,  France,  and  Scotland  from  joining  hands 
against  her,  she  was  safe,  but  the  task  demanded  all  her 
ingenuity.     Of  all  her  perils  that  from  the  north  was  the 


most  menacing. 


Mary  Stuart  was  the  grandchild  of  Margaret,  the  elder 
sister  of  Henry  VIII.,  who  had  married  James  IV.,  King  of 
Scotland.  Henry  had  striven  to  unite  his  son  Prince  Ed- 
ward with  the  baby-queen,  but  neither  he  nor  Somerset,  who 
succeeded  to  his  policy,  could  compel  the  Scots  to  carry  out 
the  marriage  treaty.  Mary's  mother  was  a  French  princess, 
and  the  vigorous  French  party  in  Scotland  took  the  little  girl 
to  Paris  and  educated  her  at  the  French  court.  She  married 
a  prince,  who  held  the  scepter  for  a  single  year  (1559-1560), 
as  King  Francis  II.  of  France.  Mary  was  a  sincere  Catholic, 
and  she  was  in  the  control  of  Catholics  who  laughed  at 
Elizabeth  Tudor's  title  to  the  English  crown.  They  argued 
that  the  divorce  from  Catherine  and  the  Boleyn  marriage 
were  alike  unlawful,  and  that  Mary  Stuart,  and  not  Eliza- 
abeth  Tudor,  was  the  rightful  heir.  The  French  courtiers 
addressed  Mary  as  "  Queen  of  England." 

At  the  death  of  Francis  his  beautiful  widow,  then  in  her 
twentieth  year,  quitted  France  to  cast  her  fortunes  with  her 
Scottish  countrymen  (1561).  At  her  coming  a  new  crop 
of  perils  sprang  up  about  Elizabeth.  The  personal  charm  of 
Mary — a  wonderful  mingling  of  beauty,  courage,  and  intel- 
lect— united  the  factious  Scots  in  her  support.  They  be- 
lieved her  promise  to  allow  both  forms  of  worship,  and  they 
stood  by  her  in  her  demand  for  recognition  as  the  successor 
of  the  unwedded  Elizabeth.  The  English  queen  dared  not 
admit  the  claim,  for  the  prospect  of  another  "Mary  the 
Catholic  "  would  have  endangered  her  own  safety.     Neither 


Tin:    La  i  i  k  TudoBS.  193 

dared  she  Belecf  any  successor,  nor  give  hopes  of  a  succession 
l>y  marrying  one  of  her  many  suitors.  For  England's  Bake 
she  must  remain  unmarried  and  lei  her  hand  be  used  as  a 
king-piece  in  the  deep  game  of  statecraft  which  she  played. 

.Mary  Stuart's  presence  in  Scotland,  looking  south,  brought 
trouble  for  the  English  Catholics,  who  had  hitherto  Buffered 
little  for  their  religion.     A  number  of  bishops  and  a  few 

re  of  parish  priest-  bad  left  their  cathedrals  and  churches, 
rather  than  adopt  the  book  of  common  prayer  and  the  other 
adjuncts  of  the  reformed  service,  but  most  of  the  clergy  had 
accepted  the  changes  without  demur.  In  1562,  however, 
when  Mary's  plans  Beemed  to  augur  success,  and  the  Catholic 
prospects  brightened,  the  pope  lent  his  aid  to  increase  Eliza- 
beth's perplexities.  Unwilling  as  yet  to  pronounce  her  sen- 
t<  ace  of  excommunication  and  deposition,  Ik-  tried  gentler 
means,  lie  forbade  Catholics  to  attend  any  church  in  which 
the  prayer-book  was  used  (1562).  Parliament  first  lined 
all  who  refused  to  attend,  and  in  1563  passed  the  "  Test  Act," 
which  compelled  all  persons  holding  office  in  Church  or  State 
to  swear  to  obey  the  queen  rather  than  the  pope.  At,  the 
same  time  the  forty-two  articles  of  Cranmer's  ereed  were 
cut  down  to  the  "thirty -nine  articles,"  which,  with  Blight 
revision,  still  remain  the  English  standard  of  belief.  Thus 
Elizabeth  had  been  forced  from  the  ground  on  which  her 
father  -t 1  to  the  advanced  position  of  Edward. 

Mary  Stuart  caught  a  new  inspiration  from  the  news  of 
Catholic  oppression  in  England.  She  had  not  asserted  her 
own  religion  in  Scotland,  bul  Bhe  now  gained  strength  with 
English  papists  by  marrying  her  cousin  Henry  Stuart,  Lord 
Darnley,  who,  next  to  Mary  herself,  was  the  presumptive 
heii-  of  Elizabeth.  Tin-  fruit  of  their  union  was  the  boi 
James  Stuart,  who  eventually  unite. I  on  his  own  head  the 
crowns  of  the  two  kingdoms.  Ili-  birth  brought  fresh 
anxieties  to  Elizabeth,  while  it  doubled  the  courage  of 
the  ( !a1  hoi, 


194  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

But  Mary  proceeded  toward  her  aim  with  suicidal 
recklessness.  Her  husband,  Darnley,  a  vile  fellow  at  best, 
had  won  her  loathing  by  murdering,  in  her  own  palace,  one 
David  Rizzio,  an  Italian,  in  whom  she  trusted  much.  Before 
the  next  year  closed  the  house  in  which  her  husband  slept 
was  blown  to  pieces  with  gunpowder,  and  Daruley's  body 
was  found  near  the  ruins.  "  Black  "  Both  well,  for  whom  she 
had  a  guilty  love,  was  accused  of  the  murder,  and  many  be- 
lieved that  Mary  was  not  innocent.  Both  well's  tiial  was  a 
farce,  and  his  marriage  with  the  queen,  which  followed  close- 
ly upon  his  acquittal,  ended  their  career  in  Scotland.  A  na- 
tional uprising  drove  Bothwell  from  the  kingdom.  Mary 
was  deposed  and  imprisoned  at  Lochleven,  and  her  babe  was 
crowned  as  James  VI.  of  Scotland,  with  her  half-brother, 
James  Douglas,  the  Protestant  earl  of  Murray,  regent. 
After  a  few  months  she  fled  from  her  captors,  and  would 
have  renewed  the  struggle,  but  was  outwitted  by  Murray's 
vigilance.  By  an  act  which  proved  her  genius  she  turned, 
and  entered  England  (May,  1568),  not  with  an  army,  but 
as  a  queen  in  distress,  seeking  to  be  restored  to  her  Scottish 
throne. 

What  to  do  .with  the  Queen  of  Scots  was  the  question 
which  puzzled  the  English  government  for  nineteen  years  to 
come.  The  regent  Murray  was  gladly  rid  of  her,  and  re- 
fused to  take  her  back  unless  she  would  submit  to  trial  for 
murder  and  adultery.  This  she  declined  to  do,  and  England 
could  not  force  a  Catholic  sovereign  upon  a  country  so 
thoroughly  Protestant  as  Scotland  had  become  under  the 
fierce  preaching  of  John  Knox  and  the  Calvinists.  Mary 
next  demanded  safe  conduct  to  the  Continent.  But  from 
France  or  Spain  she  would  have  plotted  with  advantage 
against  England.  At  that  very  moment  the  duke  of  Alva, 
a  general  of  Philip  of  Spain,  was  massacring  the  Protestants 
of  the  Low  Countries  with  a  merciless  zeal  which  has  left 
his  deeds  the  standard  with  which  such  acts  of  horror  are 


Tin:  Latbb  Ti  dobs,  105 

compared.  His  presence  gave  hope  to  the  English  Catholics, 
menaced  the  Huguenots,  and  challenged  English  Protestants 
to  succor  their  suffering  brothers  in  the  faith.  Elizabeth 
could  '1"  nothing  with  safety,  and  she  did  nothing  whatever. 
She  would  not  erive  up  Mary  for  Scottish  trial,  nor  try  her  in 
England,  nor  conduct  her  into  France,  nor  get  her  on  her 
throne,  nor  admit  her  right,  or  that  of  her  sou,  to  succeed  to 
the  throne  of  England.  She  shut  her  up  in  Bolton  castle 
and  held  her  a  prison*  r. 

Conspiracies  soon  came  to  light  among  the  Catholic  nobles 
of  England,  who  found  the  royal  captive  a  personal  center  for 
their  plots.  The  pope  launched  his  most  terrible  weapon,  the 
1  in  11  of  Deposition  (1560),  absolving  Elizabeth's  subjects  from 
their  obedience.  In  1570  the  duke  of  Norfolk,  who  had 
previously  proposed  marriage  with  the  Queen  of  Scots  as 
tin'  prelude  to  a  papist  rising,  became  involved  in  a  new 
pl"t  :  Philip  II.  was  to  send  10,000  men  of  Alva's  army  to 
aid  in  putting  .Mary  in  Elizabeth's  seat.  This  conspiracy, 
known  from  the  name  of  its  agent  as  "  Ridolfi's  Plot,"  was 
discovered  by  Lord  Burleigh's  detectives.  Its  English 
accomplices  were  arrested,  and  Norfolk  was  beheaded  (June, 
1572). 

A-  the  excommunication  inspired  Elizabeth's  enemies, 
ii  aroused  her  also  to  more  Btringenl  measures  against  all 
persons  refusing  to  worship  in  the  legal  manner.  These 
recusants  were  of  two  classes.  Besides  the  Romanists,  who 
objected  to  the  reforms  in  the  service,  there  were  the  Puri- 
tans, who  complained  that  the  reform  Btopped  too  soon.  They 
accepted  the  teachings  of  .John  Calvin  and  the  extreme 
Protestants  and  were  dissat  isfied  because  t  he  English  ( !hui\  h 
lined  the  rule  of  bishops,  the  surplice  for  the  priests,  and 
relics  of  the  Roman  ritual.  Tins,,  people  did  not  wish  to 
withdraw  from  the  communion,  but  thei  wire  clamorously 
in  favor  of  purifying  the  (lunch  of  which  thev  remained  a 
part.     For  their  effort  -  in  this  direction  i  In  \  irol  the  derisive 


10G  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

nickname  "Puritans."  Puritans  and  Catholics  were  alike 
excluded  from  Elizabeth's  scheme  of  uniformity,  and  the 
Court  of  High  Commission,  which  she  created  in  1583  to  try- 
ecclesiastical  causes,  soon  had  its  docket  crowded. 

Punishment  by  fines  and  imprisonment  failed  to  check 
Puritanism.  Toward  the  close  of  the  reign  it  advanced  a 
stage  farther,  and  the  extreme  Puritans  stayed  away  from 
church  altogether,  worshiping  by  themselves  out  of  doors, 
and  in  dwellings,  barns  or  warehouses.  They  were  called 
Separatists  and  Independents,  and  some  of  these  sects  gained 
peculiar  names  or  denominations,  as  the  "  Brownists,"  who  fol- 
lowed the  Congregational  teachings  of  one  Robert  Brown. 

While  the  rise  of  new  sects  showed  activity  in  one 
school  of  religious  thought,  the  work  of  the  Jesuits  in  En- 
gland exhibited  the  zeal  of  the  opposing  party.  The  Catholic 
leaders  perceived  that  their  religion  must  eventually  lose  its 
hold  upon  the  mind  and  heart  of  the  common  people,  for  the 
old  priests  were  with  few  exceptions  conforming  to  the  re- 
formed order  or  being  displaced  by  Anglican  clergymen. 
The  universities  had  come  so  thoroughly  under  Protestant 
influence  that  they  no  longer  recruited  the  priesthood.  Ac- 
cordingly zealous  English  Catholics  founded  a  school  at 
Douay  on  the  continent — another  was  soon  planted  at  Rome 
— for  the  training  of  Englishmen  to  preach  the  Catholic  re- 
ligion in  the  island.  These  "seminary  priests"  were  men  of 
unusual,  even  fanatical,  enthusiasm  for  the  work  to  which 
they  devoted  their  lives. 

It  was  declared  treasonable  to  land  or  shelter  the  new 
teachers.  Parsons  and  Campian  were  the  first  Jesuits  to 
brave  the  law  (1580).  They  traveled  in  disguise,  preached 
in  secret,  and  did  effectively  reclaim  Catholics  of  high  and 
low  degree  who  would  otherwise  have  drifted  into  con- 
formity. The  strict  enforcement  of  the  laws  against  them 
deterred  them  no  more  than  Mary's  burnings  had  dismayed 
the  Protestants.     Campian  died  a  traitor's  death,  and  several 


Tm:  Lai  kr  Ti  dors.  1 07 

hundred  priests  and  teachers  suffered  a  like  fate,  and  were 
revered  as  martyrs,  even  as  their  persecutors  reverenced 
Latimer  and  Ridley  and  the  other  stout-hearted  victims  of 
Smithfield  and  Oxford  fires. 

Alter  the  death  of  Norfolk  Elizabeth  had  respite  for  a 
brief  time.  Her  cousin  Mary  remained  in  custody,  still  proud 
and  hopeful,  renouncing  none  of  her  claims,  and  still  the  hope 
of  all  Catholics  who  yearned  for  the  liberation  of  England. 
Strangle  news  came  from  tin-  Continent.  A  dozen  dangerous 
years  had  passed  and  Elizabeth  lia<l  until  now  Btaved  <>IT  the 
necessity  of  answering  that  hard  question  of  a  royal  mar- 
riage. Neither  Prance  nor  Spain  could  yet  free  its  hands 
from  home  affairs  long  enough  to  deal  out  to  England  the 
chastisement  which  the  pope  had  ordered.  France,  after  a 
long  struggle  with  her  Huguenots,  had  given  them  peace, 
and  raised  Coligny,  their  hero,  to  a  high  place  in  the  gov- 
ernment. In  L562  the  massacre  of  St.  Bartholomew's  day 
had    renewed  the   war,  by  the  slaughter  of  from  25, into  to 

100, French  Protestants.     In  the  Netherlands  Alva  had 

made  the  land  sweat  blood  and  gold  until,  in  1572,  the  Dutch 
of  both  religions  under  William  of  Orange  ("the  Silent") 
united  to  gain  their  independence.  Thus  both  France  and 
Spain  were  plunged  into  new  wars,  while  England  throve  in 
consequence  of  the  turmoil  abroad. 

As  the  nation  grew  in  wealth  and  in  unity  it  was  swept 
by  new  enthusiasms.  The  cheap  books  which  had  followed 
the  invention  of  printing,  the  resultant  mental  awakening, 
the  penetrating  force  of  the  Reformation  which  stirred  all 
men  to  their  depths,  all  these  were  bearing  fruil  in  a  gen- 
eration of  brillianl  Englishmen,  (neat  exploits  were  re- 
warded at  Elizabeth's  court,  and  among  her  courtiers  were 
many  doers  of  great  deeds.  Although  t  here  was  no  "pen  war 
with  Spain  there  was  the  bitteresi  hatred  ami  the  overhang- 
ing certainly  that,  once  freed  from  its  entanglements  in  Hol- 
land, the  whole  force  of  the  Spanish  monarchy  would  descend 


198  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

upon  the  Protestant  island.  This  was  enough  for  the  young 
Englishmen,  who  could  not  sit  quietly  at  their  school-books 
while  the  "sea  beggars"  of  Holland  were  harassing  the 
Spanish  galleons.  Philip's  possessions  in  America  were  so 
wealthy  and  so  vast  that  they  formed  a  rich  and  defenseless 
prey  for  English  buccaneers.  They  plundered  the  cities  of 
the  Spanish  main,  captured  the  treasure-ships,  darted  into 
Spanish  harbors  and  cut  out  rich  prizes  under  the  guns  of 
frowning  forts.  Sir  Francis  Drake,  one  of  the  boldest  of 
these  lawless  sailors,  had  faced  worse  perils  than  Philip's 
gibbet.  His  was  the  first  English  ship  in  the  Pacific  Ocean, 
and  his  little  vessel  was  the  first  to  make  the  lonor  vovaire 
around  the  world.  Men  of  like  daring  were  Davis  and 
Frobisher,  who  explored  the  icy  channels  of  America  in  vain 
quest  for  a  "  north-west  passage  "  to  India.  John  Hawkins, 
slave-trader,  Avas  another,  and  one  of  the  queen's  favorites. 

The  depredations  of  men  like  Drake  hastened  the  out- 
break of  war  with  Spain.  The  queen  accepted  the  inevit- 
able.     The   Netherlanders   were   fainting  in  their  strurrirle 

<J  ft  ft 

against  the  strongest  State  in  Europe.  William,  their  hero, 
was  dead — killed  by  an  assassin  (1584),  and  France  and 
Philip  had  formed  the  "League"  (1585),  to  keep  the 
Huguenot,  Henry  of  Navarre,  from  the  French  throne,  and 
to  put  an  end  to  Dutch  Protestantism.  The  union  of  the 
two  Catholic  countries  terminated  England's  neutrality. 

However  reluctant  to  risk  the  fortunes  of  war,  the 
instinct  of  self-preservation,  which  had  maintained  a  nominal 
peace  for  nearly  thirty  years,  now  prompted  the  queen  to 
vigorous  action.  Two  kingdoms  would  turn  upon  England 
the  moment  their  bloody  work  in  Holland  was  completed. 
Before  the  end  of  the  year  6,000  English  troops  landed  in 
the  Low  Countries  under  command  of  Robert  Dudley, 
earl  of  Leicester,  the  handsome  but  worthless  courtier  to 
whom  Elizabeth  showed  favor.  But  the  gay  man  of  courts 
fared  ill  against  Philip's  general,  Alexander,  Duke  of  Parma. 


Tin:  Later  Tudobs.  i 99 

Town  after  town  was  taken  by  the  Spaniards,  and  after  the 
defeat  of  Zutphen,  Leicester  came  home  in  disgrace.  On 
the  field  <>t"  Zutphen  fell  that  pine  ami  courteous  knight,  Sir 
Philip  Sidney. 

Kyi  rv  east  wind  which  brought  shi|>s  across  the  channel 
!>. >re  tidings  of  danger  to  Elizabeth.  Iler  succors  had 
not  helped  the  Hollanders;  Henry  of  Navarre,  to  whom  she 
paid  a  begrudged  subsidy,  could  scarcely  hold  his  own  against 
the  League;  and  there  was  rumor,  and  unmistakable  evi- 
dence, too,  of  new  conspiracies  among  the  Catholic  refugees 
upon  the  Continent.  Sir  Francis  Walsingham,  the  queen's 
etary,  scrutinised  this  news  searchingly;  his  spies  were 
every  where,  and  little  escaped  his  vision.  There  were  con- 
spiracies and  conspiracies,  hut  the  center  of  each,  willingly 
or  unwillingly,  was  the  royal  prisoner,  Mary  Stuart. 

In  1556  the  threads  of  a  Catholic  plot,  of  which  one 
Anthony  Babington  held  the  English  end,  were  found  and 
followed  up.  Yet  VValsinghani  gave  no  sign  until  the  evi- 
dence of  Mary's  guilt  was  complete.  Babington  was  appre- 
hended and  executed;  hut  Elisabeth  hesitated  to  do  violence 
to  her  Scottish  prisoner.     Due  regard  for  her  own  safety  left 

no  alternative.  A  special  court  tried,  condemned,  and  sen- 
tenced  the  Queen  of  Scots  for  treasonable  connection  with 

BabingtOn'fl    plot    "for   the   hurt,   death,  and    destruction    of 

the  royal  person."     Even  then,  although  she  had  signed  the 

death  warrant,  Elisabeth  WOUld  not  order  its  execution, 
leaving  that  duty  to  her  secretary.  On  February  8,  1687, 
Mary  Stuart  was  beheaded  in  the  court  of  Fotheiingaj 
castle,  bequeathing  to  Philip  of  Spain  her  enmity  to  Elisa- 
beth and  her  claims  to  the  English  crown. 

Philip  was  ready  to  move.  For  months  hi-;  fleets  had  been 
building  and  assembling  for  the  conquest  of  England  and 
the  Netherlands.  Drake,  plunging  into  Cadis  (1587),  put 
back  t  lie  preparat  ion-,  and,  ai  i  he  rough  sailor  said,  "  gave  the 
Spani  li  Icing's  beard  a  singe."     But  in  1588  the  League  had 


200  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

wron  a  notable  triumph  over  the  Huguenots,  and  the  duke  of 
Parma  had  arranged  matters  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands  so 
that  he,  with  17,000  men,  could  be  spared  for  heavy  work  in 
England.  In  May,  1588,  "the  most  fortunate  and  invin- 
cible Armada  " — so  the  Spaniards  named  their  fleet — set  sail 
on  its  double  errand  of  invasion  and  conversion.  The  pope 
gave  his  blessing  to  the  expedition  as  heaven's  chosen  instru- 
ment for  the  chastisement  and  redemption  of  the  apostate 
realm.  The  duke  of  Medina-Sidonia  commanded  the  ar- 
mament, which  was  thus  made  up:  "  132  ships,  manned  by 
8,766  sailors  and  2,088  galley-slaves,  and  carrying  21,555 
soldiers,  as  well  as  300  monks  and  inquisitors." 

The  navy  of  England  numbered  34  vessels,  most  of  them 
light  and  lightly  armed.  But  volunteers,  who  had  proved 
their  ability  in  storm  and  sea-fight,  soon  swelled  the  fleet  of 
the  admiral,  Lord  Howard,  to  more  than  twice  that  number. 
With  him  were  Drake,  Frobisher,  Hawkins,  and  other  hearts 
of  oak,  who  were  not  unused  to  meeting  Spaniards  on  the 
high  seas.  These  gathered  in  Plymouth  Sound  to  await  the 
cautious  enemy.  At  Tilbury  fort  the  English  volunteers, 
Catholic  and  Protestant  and  Puritan,  mustered  in  throng- 
ing companies,  and  flung  their  caps  in  the  air  when  Elizabeth 
Tudor  rode  among  them,  and  with  a  few  queenly  words 
exhorted  them  to  resist  the  foreigner  :  "  I  am  come  among 
you,  resolved  in  the  midst  and  heat  of  battle  to  live  or  die 
among  you  all.  I  know  that  I  have  the  body  but  of  a  weak 
and  feeble  woman,  but  I  have  the  heart  of  a  king,  and  of  a 
king  of  England  too  !  " 

On  Friday,  July  19,  the  Armada  was  sighted  off  the  Lizard, 
and  on  Saturday  Howard  went  out,  not  to  meet  but  to  follow 
the  foe.  Until  July  27  the  Englishmen  hung  upon  the  flanks 
and  rear  of  the  great  crescent-shaped  Spanish  fleet,  attacking 
straggling  or  disabled  vessels  and  maneuvering  for  delay. 
On  the  28th,  at  midnight,  eight  English  fire  ships  bore  down 
upon  the  Spanish  vessels  crowded  in  Calais  roads.    In  the  con- 


Till:    La  11  B    Tl  DORS.  20J 

Fusion  which  ensued  Lord  I  lownrd  gave  battle.  All  day  Mon- 
day, the  29th,  the  English,  reinforced  by  new  arrivals,  fought 
for  their  queen,  their  country,  their  religion.  Winn  their 
powder  was  almost  gone  the  "invincible  Armada  '  gave  up 
the  battle  and  Bteered  northward  with  a  fair  south  wind. 

II  ward  gave  chase  for  several  days;  a  great  Btorm  com- 
pleted the  destruction.  The  coasts  of  Norway,  Scotland, 
and  Ireland  were  Btrewn  with  wreckage,  for  the  Spaniards, 
cul  off  from  retreat  through  Dover  Straits,  made  the  home- 
ward voyage  around  Great  Britain.  In  October  Philip's 
shattered  fleet  dropped  anchor  in  the  harbors  whence  it  had 
.  .1  in  ])<nii|i  five  months  before.  Fourscore  vessels  and 
20,000  men  who  sailed  with  the  armada  never  came 
hack.  "1  Bent  them  forth,"  s.ii.l  the  phlegmatic  king, 
jainst  man,  not  against  the  ocean,"  and  he  thanked  God 
for  the  power  to  ^.-ml  a  larger  armament.  England  returned 
heart-felt  thanks  to  God  for  her  deliverance. 

Philip's  attacks  on  England  were  ended.  His  far-reaching 
plans  remained  unfulfilled.  England  now  struck  hack  at 
Spain.  In  1589  Norris  and  Drake  descended  upon  Corunna 
with  a  fleet  and  army;  their  small  sue  ess  was  followed  by  a 
failure    to    take    the   city   of    Lisbon.      With   this   fleet    went 

Robert  Devereux,  Kail  uf  Essex,  who,  but  twenty-two  years 
old,  had  succeeded  L  sicester,  lately  dead  i  L588),  in  the  favor 

the  maiden  queen.  Despite  this  useless  expedition  priva- 
teers continued  to  play  havoc  with  Spanish  commerce. 
While  Philip's  authority  upon  the  Beas  declined  he  saw  his 
other  plana  collapse.  The  popularity  and  finally  the  apos- 
tasy of  Henry  of  Na\arre  t,.  Catholicism  gave  him  the 
crown  of  France  as  Henrj  [V.,  and  Bhul  out  Spanish  influ- 
ence. The  death  of  the  duke  of  Parma  left  the  Netherlands 
unpacified,  and    so   they  continued   until    1607,   when    their 

fr lorn   was  acknowledged.     Philip  himself  was  then  nine 

re  dead.     He  had  died  in  1598,  at  th<  f  seventy-one. 

The  dispersion  of  the   Armadi  lifted    a  cloud   that   had 


202  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

hung  over  England  for  a  quarter  of  a  century.  The  undis- 
puted power  of  Spain  was  broken.  Protestant  England  took 
her  place  among  the  leading  nations  of  the  world.  The 
sagacity,  the  patience,  the  diplomacy,  and  finally  the  courage, 
of  Elizabeth,  Burleigh,  Bacon,  and  Walsingham  had  foiled 
the  domestic  plots  of  the  Catholics,  had  postponed  and  in 
the  end  repulsed  the  onslaught  of  Catholic  Spain.  Relieved 
of  her  fears  England  sprang  forward  with  an  exultant  bound. 
Men  were  eager  for  opportunities  to  win  renown  for  their 
country  and  their  queen.  Essex,  the  new  favorite,  captured 
the  Spanish  port  of  Cadiz  in  the  last  years  of  Philip.  Raleigh 
pounced  upon  one  of  the  Azores  Islands,  and  Elizabeth  sent 
him  to  jail  for  the  affront  to  her  pet  commander. 

Ireland  rose  in  revolt.  This  kingdom,  long  divided  and 
chaotic,  had  found  a  point  of  union.  The  English  Parlia- 
ment had  established  by  law  the  Protestant  religion  in  Ireland. 
The  Irish  were  absolutely  opposed  to  the  new  faith,  and 
the  attempt  to  force  it  upon  them  pressed  them  into  a  com- 
pact nation.  The  corrective  measures  of  England  failed  ut- 
terly. The  colonies  of  Englishmen,  who  were  settled  upon 
confiscated  lands,  formed  communities  separated  from  their 
Irish  neighbors  by  a  fierce  hatred.  Spain  aided,  and  the  pope 
blessed,  every  insurrection  of  the  Catholic  Irish.  Essex,  who 
was  Elizabeth's  choice  for  every  arduous  task,  was  sent  to  quell 
the  revolt  of  Hugh  O'Neill,  Earl  of  Tyrone.  His  failure  led 
to  his  disgrace  at  court,  and  his  audacious  attempts  to  save  his 
head  aroused  the  wrath  of  the  aged  queen.  She  approved  the 
sentence  of  treason  which  was  passed  upon  him,  and  he  was 
executed  February  25,  1601.  Lord  Mount  joy,  who  suc- 
ceeded him  in  Ireland,  firmly  but  mercilessly  crushed  the 
rebellion,  and  established  English  laws,  language,  and  cus- 
toms at  the  point  of  the  sword. 

The  position  of  Parliament  in  Elizabeth's  reign  is  worthy 
of  mention.  She  did  not  neglect  it  altogether,  as  most  of  her 
Tudor  predecessors  had  done,  but  it  did  not  often  oppose  her. 


Tin:    LaTEB  TuDOKB,  203 

Her  Test  Act  excluded  the  Catholic  members,  who  migh1 
have  formed  an  obstructive  force,  and  the  common  danger  of 
queen  and  nation,  and  the  prevalent  belief  that  her 
policy  was  the  besl  for  all,  doubtless  smoothed  her  path; 
Moreover,  her  thrift  and  her  love  of  peace  spared  her  those 
constant  appeals  for  money  which  always  aroused  the  op- 
position  of  the  people.  Fet  the  national  spirit,  which  grew 
with  the  sin-cesses  of  Elizabeth,  asserted  itself  in  the  House 
of  Commons.  A  part  of  the  royal  revenues  was  derived 
from  monopolies  of  salt,  wines,  and  other  commodities.  By 
patent  from  the  sovereign  the  solo  right  to  deal  in  these 
articles  was  granted  to  individuals  or  corporations,  con- 
ditioned upon  the  payment  of  a  "  royalty"  to  the  government. 
These  taxes  became  so  oppressive  that  in  1001  the  Commons 
indignantly  protested,  and  the  queen  gracefully  yielded  to 
them  and  revoked  her  patents. 

Many  charters  for  trade  in  America  and  in  Asia  were 
granted  during  this  reign,  and  <>n  the  last  day  of  the  fifteenth 
century  an  association  of  London  merchants  was  chartered 
as  the  East  India  Company,  the  corporation  which  con- 
quered, ami  for  a  time  controlled,  the  British  Indian  Empire, 

In  tic  last  years  of  her  life  the  famous  queen  became  fret- 
fid  and  nervous;  she  who  had  known  no  fear  kept  a  BWOl'd 
continually  in  her  chamber,  and  at  times  thrust  it  through 
t  he  hangings  jn  quest  "I  a  concealed  assassin.  'The  counselors 
who  had  stood  with  her  through  the  perilous  passage  died 
one  by  one  in  the  years  of  triumph.     Robert  Cecil,  son  of 

tin-  good   Lord    Burleigh,  became  her  chief  secretary,  and  hi' 

it  was  who  told,  from  the  signs  which  she  made  on  ber  death- 
bed, that  she  would  have  as  her  successor  .lames  VI.,  King 
of  Scotland,  the  son  of  her  enemy,  Mary  Stuart.  Elizabeth 
Tudor   died  at     Richmond,   March  24,   L603,  in  the  seventieth 

i-  of  her  age. 
The  rei >_r n  of  "  Good  Queen   Bess  "  is  reckoned  the  golden 
of  England.     In  the  galaxy  of  great  names  which  shine 


204  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

upon  its  records,  and  amid  the  glories  of  its  close,  one  is  likely 
to  forget  the  trials,  the  long-drawn  suspense,  of  its  first  thirty- 
years.  Had  space  allowed  this  chapter  might  have  been  ex- 
tended with  the  literary  history  of  this  Elizabethan  period. 
In  his  dramas  Shakespeare  exemplified  the  spirit  of  his 
time,  and  he  makes  his  character,  John  of  Gaunt,  say  of  the 
England  of  Henry  V.  what  every  patriot  thought  of  the  En- 
gland of  Elizabeth  : 

"  This  royal  throne  of  kings,  this  sceptered  isle, 
This  earth  of  majesty,  this  seat  of  Mars, 
This  other  Eden,  demi-paradise  ; 
This  fastness  built  by  nature  for  herself 
Against  infection,  aud  the  hand  of  war ; 
This  happy  breed  of  men,  this  little  world  ; 
This  precious  stone,  set  in  the  silver  sea, 
Which  serves  it  in  the  office  of  a  wall. 
Or  as  a  moat  defensive  to  a  house 
Against  the  envy  of  less  happier  lands. 


The  Si  i  art  Tyban  n  ^.  205 


CHAPTER   XII. 

THE  STUART  TYRANNY.     1603  A.  D. 1649  A.  D. 
M  TIIK  ACCESSION  OF  JAKES  I.  TO  THE  EXECUTION  OF  CHARLES   I. 

T>v  the  will  of  Henry  VIII.  Elizabeth's  successor  was  to  lie 
taken  from  the  family  of  his  younger  sister,  the  Duchess  of 
Suffolk;  but  at  Elizabeth's  death  the  late  king's  wishes  were 
disregarded,  and  the  royal  council  proclaimed  the  king  of 
Scotland  king  of  England  also. 

James  L  (James  VI.  of  Scotland)  was  the  only  son  of  Mary 
Stuart  ami  that  Lord  Darnley  whose  murder  drove  her  from 
her  kingdom.  In  his  earliesl  childhood  James  Stuart  had 
been  titular  king  "I*  Scots,  and  for  a  number  of  years  he  had 
been  the  real  ruler  of  ihe  northern  kingdom.  His  Catholic 
mother  had  no  voice  in  Ins  education,  which  was  thoroughly 
Protestant.  Weak  and  ungainly  physically,  idle,  ami  slovenly 
in  manner,  the  king  had  a  mind  of  considerable  keenness.  Ho. 
was  especially  learned  in  theology—"  the  wisest  fool  in  ( !hris- 
tendom,"  Bneered  Henry  of  Navarn — and  was  inordinately 
proud  of  liis  acquirements.  A  man  of  such  parts — physical 
cowardice  was  a  marked  feat  ureof  his  character,  and  a  Scotch 
brogue  marred  his  speech — cul  a  sorr j  figure  in  the  eyes  of 
the  English  people,  which  had  been  Idled  for  fourscore  years 
with  the  kingly  figures  of  "bluff  king  Hal,"'  and  "good 
queen  I  ;■ 

The  Puritan  agitation  u.-h  the  firsl  Bubject  which  wan 
brought  to  King  James's  attention.  A-  he  passed  southward 
toward  London  (1603),  the  "Millenary  Petition,"  signed  by 
1,000  Puritan  pa-tor-  (in  reality  only  B00),  was  offered  to 
him.     It  urged  him  to  revise  the  doctrines  and   rules  of  the 


206  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

English  Church  so  as  to  purify  the  ecclesiastical  system  from 
the  lingering  taint  of  Romanism.  It  will  be  remembered 
that  the  reformers  of  Edward  VI. 's  reign — Cranmer  and  his 
supporters — were  the  high  officers  of  the  Church,  enlightened 
men,  who  introduced  changes  more  rapidly  than  the  com- 
mon people  were  ready  to  receive  them.  Hence  the  Catholic 
reaction  under  Mary  had  been  easy.  During  the  long  reign 
of  Elizabeth,  two  generations  had  lived.  The  Bible  had  he- 
come  the  one  household  book  in  thousands  of  families,  and 
its  influence  had  contributed  to  an  enormous  growth  of  the 
Puritans.  The  situation  of  Edward's  reign  was  now  reversed. 
The  bishops,  appointed  by  the  crown,  were  conservative, 
pledged  to  maintain  the  established  Church,  and  subject  to 
rebuke  and  sharp  discipline  if  lenient  toward  the  Puritans; 
the  people,  on  the  other  hand,  with  many  of  the  lesser  clergy, 
were  strongly  Puritanical,  and  to  King  James  they  came 
with   their  petition. 

The  petitioners  had  their  trouble  and  something  worse  for 
their  pains.  In  1604  the  king  summoned  four  Puritans  to  a 
conference  at  Hampton  Court  with  eighteen'  prelates  of  the 
Church.  This  famous  conference  refused  the  reforms  for 
which  the  petitioners  prayed;  and  the  king,  after  a  savage  de- 
nunciation of  Presbyterian  government  (a  bitter  taste  of  which 
he  brought  from  home),  ordered  the  bishops  to  compel  their 
clergy  to  conform  strictly  to  the  rides  of  the  Church.  Star 
Chamber  court  declared  that  signers  of  the  great  petition  were 
guilty  of  misdemeanor,  and  ten  of  them  were  imprisoned. 
Three  hundred  Puritan  preachers  were  expelled  from  their 
livings  for  failing  to  obey  the  rules  at  which  their  consciences 
rebelled.  The  measures  against  the  "Independents" — those 
extreme  Puritans  who,  despairing  of  reform  within  the 
Church,  had  left  it  altogether — drove  some  of  them  out  of  the 
country,  and  one  of  these  little  bands  of  refugees,  having  so- 
journed a  time  in  Holland,  took  ship  in  the  Mayflower  in 
1620,  to   found   a  new  England  with  "  freedom  to  worship 


Tm:  Stuart  Tyranny.  207 

Cod."  The  translation  of  the  Bible,  King  James's  version, 
was  authorised  by  the  Hampton  Court  conference  and  pub- 
lished in  1611. 

The  first  Parliamenl  of  the  reign  assembled  in  March  1604, 
and  its  sessions  marked  tin-  beginning  of  a  new  era.  The 
«l«ait>t  dogma  «'f  this  theorising  monarch  was  "the  divine 
right  of  the  king  to  rule."  He  had  declared  his  views  upon 
tliis  Bubject  in  Scotland,  and  lie  lost  no  opportunity  t<>  impr<  ss 
tlirin  apon  liis  English  subjects,  lie  denied  tli.it  the  nation 
was  thr  source  of  law  ami  of'kingly  power.  His  authority, 
In-  declared,  was  from  heaven,  ami  his  prerogative  was  above 
the  law,  which  he  might  of  his  own  will  alter  as  the  welfare 
of  his  people  required.  This  was  u  Divine  Right  <>f  Kings," 
a  novel  theory,  and  one  which  the  nation  would  not  tolerate. 
It-  continued  re-assertion,  and  the  tyrannies  that  Bprangfrom 
its  practical  application,  led  to  a  life-long  struggle  between 
the  king  and  Parliament  :  a  struggle  which  the  former  be- 
queathed to  his  son  and  successor,  and  which  ended  in  the 
execution  of  King  Charles  I.  and  the  establishment  of  the 
English  commonwealth. 

A  spirit  of  resolute  independence  was  evident  i;i  the  first 
Parliament  of  James.     He  asked   it   to  sanction  a  close  union 

of  England  and  Scotland,  which  had  now  separate  govern- 
ments under  the  sane-  king.     '1  his  thev  refused,  and  t he  kinjr, 

in  turn,  slighted  their  wish  to  e jede  the  Puritan  demands 

for  reform.  Tin'  first  Bessionof  Parliament  closed  fruitlessly. 
Tin-  Bessionof  1605  narrowly  misled  a  tragic  opening. 

James  had  promised  to  relieve  the  Catholics  of  the  heaviest 
burdens  with  which  Elisabeth's  reign  had  weighted  them, 
hut  his  ear  soon  caught  whispers  of  Catholic  plots  against 
him  and  he  broke  his  promises.  Anothcrand  a  more  deadly 
conspiracy  was  batched  in  1605.  Roberl  Catesbyand  a  few 
desperate  papists  planned  to  blow  up  the  Parliamenl  build- 
ings on  the  day  of  the  joint  assembly  of  the  two  Hon  see  to 
hear  the  king's  opening  speech.     The  cellar  of  the  building 


208  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

was  stocked  with  gunpowder,  and  all  plans  were  in  readi- 
ness to  massacre  in  a  moment  king,  princes,  lords,  and  com- 
mons. Guy  Fawkes,  an  Englishman  who  had  served  in  the 
Spanish  army,  had  charge  of  the  details  of  the  murderous 
project.  November  5  was  the  day  for  the  king  to  meet 
the  two  Houses;  but  the  secret  transpired  at  the  last  moment. 
On  the  evening  of  November  4  Fawkes  was  arrested  among 
his  powder  kegs;  the  other  conspirators  incontinently  fled. 
Fawkes  and  others  were  executed,  and  November  5,  the  day 
of  the  "  Gunpowder  Treason,"  was  long  celebrated  by  English 
Protestants. 

The  question  of  crown  revenues,  for  which  Elizabeth's 
thrift  had  found  ready  solution,  kept  her  successor  in  con- 
tinual trouble.  His  expensive  household,  his  pensions,  and  his 
foreign  diplomacy  used  up  vast  sums.  The  oidy  lawful  way  by 
which  an  English  king  could  raise  money  Avas  by  taxation 
voted  by  the  representatives  of  the  people  in  Parliament. 
James  had  found  Parliament  a  two-edged  sword,  which  he 
feared  to  handle.  Without  asking  its  consent  he  accordingly 
laid  a  tax,  or  "imposition,"  upon  currants  and  tobacco.  One 
Bate,  an  importer  of  currants,  refused  to  pay,  and  was  tried 
before  the  Court  of  Exchequer.  The  judges  gave  the  startling 
opinion  that  the  king,  as  regulator  of  commerce  and  foreign 
affairs,  might  lawfully  lay  and  collect  such  customs  duties. 

This  angered  Parliament.  In  1610  James  offered  to  relin- 
quish certain  feudal  rights  of  the  crown,  in  return  for  an 
annual  grant  of  £200,000.  But  the  haggling  over  this 
"Great  Contract"  disgusted  both  parties,  and  the  king  dis- 
solved Parliament,  hoping  to  pay  his  Avay  by  means  of  the 
hated  impositions.  But  the  way  was  hard,  and  after  footing 
it  for  three  years  he  summoned  a  second  Parliament  in  1014. 
The  Commons  refused  to  grant  a  farthing  until  the  king 
should  redress  their  grievances  by  renouncing  the  impositions 
and  purifying  the  Church.  After  the  deadlock  had  lasted  a 
month  James  ordered  the  Commons  to  go  home,  whereupon 


Till-:    Sn    u;i    '\'\  RAWNT.  209 

the  "Addled  Parliament"  dissolved  without  enacting  a 
ungle  law.  Among  the  participants  in  that  Btormy  session 
were  John  Eliot  and  Thomas  Wentworth,  memorable  nanus 
in  the  history  of  the  (.•(institutional  struggle  of  the  following 
reign.  Their  first  lesson  in  Parliamentary  opposition  was 
brief,  and  they  did  not  Boon  learn  a  Becond ;  seven  years 
elapsed  before  the  king's  third  Parliament  was  summoned. 

Robert  Cee.il,  Earl  of  Salisbury,  and  sen  of  that  Baron 
Burleigh  who  had  given  Elizabeth  a  life  of  faithful  service, 
was  the  first  adviser  of  the  king,  and  the  only  real  minister 
that  James  tolerated.  Lord  Bacon,  his  chancellor,  gave  his 
advice  unheeded.  After  Cecil's  death  James  cultivated 
favorites  in  the  place  of  counselors.  The  first  was  a  page  of 
the  court,  one  Robert  Carr,  a  young  Scot,  who  had  neither 
ability  nor  character.  James  made  him  his  companion  and 
pril  >'•  Becretary,  loaded  him  with  wealth  and  honors,  and 
ere  ited  him  earl  of  Somerset.  Within  the  space  of  t  wo  years 
-  nersel  ruined  himself  by  his  misconduct.  The  king's  par- 
don saved  his  life,  hut  another  young  man,  George  Villiers, 
better  km-wn  by  hia  later  title,  duke  of  Buckingham,  had 
gained  the  favor  of  the  king.  Hi-  wealth  soon  Bin-passed 
that  of  hi-  predecessor,  for  the  king  intrusted  to  him  the 
distribution  of  offices  and  peerages,  and  his  purse  was  stuffed 
with  enormous  bribes.  "Steenie,"  a-  the  king  called  Buck- 
ingham, was  a  handsome,  genial  fellow,  with  tine  taste  for 
art,  and  very  poor  moral-,  whether  public  or  private.  The 
death  of  the  Prince  of  Wales  left  the  younger  -on,  Charles, 
heir-apparent  to  the  crown,  and  to  him  the  favorite  attached 
himself,  even  more  closely  than  to  the   father. 

Meanwhile  .lames  followed  his  own  will  in  the  administra- 
tion of  the  realm.  The  alhimportant  question  of  revenue 
was  \ariously  met.  The  impositions  w eic  increased,  hut  they 
proved  insufficient.     A  "benevolence"  was   asked,  hut  only 

mall  gum  resulted.     "  Baronets,"  a  new  order  of  nobility, 

w-  re  created,  and    patents  of  this  new  rank,  and    -eat-  in  the 


210  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

House  of  Lords  were  sold  for  ready  money.  The  effort  of 
the  king  to  interfere  with  the  proceedings  of  the  law  courts 
was  resisted  by  the  chief-justice,  Sir  Edward  Coke,  and  that 
great  lawyer  was  dismissed  from  the  bench  (1616).  The 
lawless  extortions  of  the  crown  were  repeated  by  the  offi- 
cials of  the  court.  Buckingham's  wealth  was  the  result  of 
bribery.  Judges  received  no  salaries,  and  a  premium  was 
thus  placed  upon  official  corruption.  In  1621  Lord  Bacon 
himself,  "the  wisest,  brightest,  meanest  of  mankind,"  the 
chancellor  of  the  realm,  was  impeached  by  the  House  of 
Commons  for  taking  bribes.  Be  acknowledged  that  he  had 
received  money  from  suitors,  but  declared  that  the  payments 
had  not  influenced  his  decisions.  The  Lords  condemned 
him,  and  he  retired  from  office  to  devote  the  remaining  years 
of  his  life  to  the  study  of  philosophy. 

The  Parliament  which  condemned  Lord  Bacon  was  called 
for  a  very  different  purpose — one  which  brings  the  student  to 
the  perverse  foreign  policy  of  the  Stuart  kings.  Elizabeth's 
reign  had  indisputably  proved  one  thing — that  England  was 
the  natural  leader  of  Protestant  Europe  against  Spain,  the 
champion  of  papistry.  The  iii'st  armed  conflict  of  the  two 
religions  had  settled  this.  France  and  the  Netherlands  had 
furnished  the  battle-ground  for  that  struggle.  After  a  genera- 
tion a  fresh  outbreak  was  imminent,  and  Germany  was  to  he 
the  stage  of  action. 

England  was  Protestant,  but  the  willful  king  believed  that 
an  alliance  with  Spain  would  restrain  both  countries  from  the 
Avar,  and  insure  a  European  peace.  To  confirm  the  amity 
of  the  naturally  distrustful  nations  he  proposed  (1617)  that 
Prince  Charles  should  wed  Isabella,  the  Spanish  infanta. 
Before  the  death  of  the  cautious  Cecil  Charles's  sister  Eliza- 
beth had  married  Frederick,  the  Elector  Palatine,  the  leader 
of  the  German  Protestants.  James  thought  the  best  way  to 
protect  her  and  her  children  was  to  ally  himself  to  Spain,  the 
leading  Catholic  State.      To   this  design  he  sacrificed  Sir 


Thk  Stuabt  Tyranny.  211 

A\";iltiT  Raleigh,  whose  deeds  in  South  America  made  him 
(Hlic.il>  to  Spain. 

The  negotiation  of  the  Spanish  marriage  proceeded  slowly. 
The  English  denounced  it,  and  Spain  stipulated  that  the 
English  Catholics  should  worship  unmolested.  The  parley- 
ings  were  disturbed  by  the  clash  of  arms  in  Germany. 
Bohemia  called  King  James's  son-in-law  Frederick  to  its 
throne,  expelling  King  Ferdinand,  the  Catholic,  relative  of 
the  Spanish  king.  This  revolt  opened  the  Thirty  Years' 
War  (1618-1648).  Frederick  accepted  the  offered  title,  but 
maintained  Ids  position  only  a  few  months.  The  Catholic 
League  drove  him  from  Bohemia,  and  the  Spaniards  occupied 
Ids  home  dominions  in  tin'  Palatinate  (  L620). 

A  -mail  force  of  English  volunteers  Bel  out  to  aid  the 
Elector,  with  the  permission  of  James,  ami  in  1621  the  third 
Parliament  was  summoned  to  grant  supplies  for  a  war  in 
Germany.  When  the  Commons  found  that  the  king  wanted 
supplie-  first,  hut  would  t_c i v » ■  no  definite  plan  of  war,  their 
ardor  < led.  They  voted  a  meager  sum,  but  pledged  them- 
selves to  aid  the  king  with  their  fortunes  and  their  lives  if 
lie  would  adopt  a  war  policy  in  earnest.  Still  lie  temporized 
with  Spain,  ami  while  the  last  shreds  of  his  son-in-law's  power 
were  being  seized  by  the  Catholics  he  .still  swam  about  the 
tempting  bait  of  the  Spanish  marriage.  At  its  second  session 
this  Parliament  of  1621  Bent  a  committee  to  ask  the  king  to 

declare  war  on  Spain.      The    monarch    was    furious.      "Bring 

olfl  for  these  embassadors,"  he  cried,  when  the  commoners 

made  known  t  he i i-  errand,  and  he  hade  t  hem  meddle  no  more 

wit  b  affairs  of  State.  To  this  the  House  entered  its  Protesta- 
tion, solemnly  and  prayerfully  declaring  "  that  the  liberties 
of  Parliament  are  the  anoienl  and  undoubted  birthright  and 
inheritance  of  the  subjects  of  England,  and  that  the  arduous 
and  urgenl  affairs  concerning  the  king,  state  and  defense  of 
the  realm,  and  of  the  Church  of  England,  and  the  making 
and  inaini'  n  ui> f  law-  ami  redress  of  grievances  .  .  .  are 


212  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

proper  subjects  of  debate  in  Parliament."  With  his  own 
hand  the  king  tore  the  Protestation  from  the  journal  of  the 
House,  and  a  few  days  later  ordered  the  dissolution  of  his 
third  Parliament. 

The  shameful  quiescence  of  England  in  the  presence  of  the 
suffering  German  Protestant  States  aroused  James  to  a  final 
effort  to  vindicate  his  foreign  policy.  In  102:1  Buckingham 
and  Prince  Charles  set  out  together  for  Madrid  to  brinij 
about  the  marriage  which  had  been  delayed  so  long.  They 
were  richly  entertained  at  Madrid,  but  every  obstacle  was 
placed  in  the  way  of  the  match.  The  Infanta  was  averse  to 
a  "  heretic "  husband,  and  the  Spanish  king  and  the  pope 
devised  all  manner  of  iron-clad  oaths  to  compel  King  James 
to  re-open  the  way  for  the  conversion  of  England  to 
Catholicism.  Charles  promised  to  fulfill  them  all,  but  even 
then  the  marriage  was  delayed.  Thwarted  in  his  design  to 
bring  the  Infanta  to  England  as  his  bride,  the  prince  returned 
alone  in  1624  and  broke  off  the  engagement. 

James  despaired  of  the  Spanish  alliance  and  summoned  a 
fourth  Parliament  (1624)  to  prepare  for  war  with  Spain  in 
defense  of  his  daughter  Elizabeth.  But  the  Commons  were 
wary  of  the  king's  purposes  and  chary  of  supplies  ;  they 
made  a  small  appropriation  and  then  rested  to  observe  the 
movements  of  the  king.  His  heart  was  fixed  upon  marry- 
ing Charles  to  a  princess  who  should  secure  to  England  a 
Catholic  ally  on  the  Continent.  Urged  on  by  the  favorite 
Buckingham  he  selected  the  Princess  Henrietta  Maria  of 
France,  and  signed  a  marriage  treaty  which  granted  sub- 
stantial liberties  to  English  Catholics.  With  such  an 
unpopular  deed  to  answer  for  it  was  folly  to  ask  Parliament 
for  money.  Buckingham  undertook  to  open  hostilities 
without  an  appropriation,  but  the  twelve  thousand  English- 
men who  crossed  to  the  Continent  for  the  campaign  (1625) 
under  Count  Mansfield  were  decimated  by  disease.  In  the 
midst  of  these  disasters  James  died,  March  27,  1625. 


Tin:  Sti  lrt  Tyranny.  213 

Charles  Stuart  immediately  sucoeeded  his  father  as  Charles 
I.  of  England.  Courtly  presence,  pleasing  address,  dignity 
of  manner,  and  cultivated  tastes  combined  to  recommend 
li'nu  to  the  English,  who  had   turned  in   disgusl    from  the 

b -i-li  James.     In  his  household,  as  in  society,  Charles  was 

a  polished  gentleman,  l>nt  in  his  theory  of  kingly  power  he 
was  a  tyrant.  The  principles  of  absolute  authority  in  which 
.lames  believed  were  inherited  by  the  son,  and  practiced 
with  a  persistency,  which  led  to  war,  dethronement,  death. 

The  newly-crowned  king  revived  the  hopes  of  the  nation. 
His  hat  red  of  Spain  and  zeal  for  his  sister  Elizabeth  promised 
that  England  should  soon  resume  her  place  among  the  Protest- 
aut  nation-.  Parliament  was  summoned,  and  asked  to  appro- 
priate -  .in-  for  the  prosecution  of  the  war,  which  Buckingham 
had  begun  with  Mansfield's  wretched  fiasco  in  Holland.  Hut 
a  few  months  had  altered  the  temper  of  the  nation.  Two 
month-  before  (May,  1625)  the  king  had  married  the  French 
princess,  Henrietta  .Maria.  It  was  suspected  that  the  mar- 
riage was  a  prelude  to  a  milder  attitude  of  the  government 
toward  the  English  Catholics.  Until  the  monarch  should 
declare  his  intentions  the  Commons  would  not  satisfy  his 
demand-.  They  voted  him  one  sixth  of  the  desired  amount; 
but  the  tonnage  and  poundage  duties,  heretofore  granted  for 
the  lifetime  of  tiie  sovereign,  were  assigned  to  Charles  for 
one  year  only.  This  Parliament  wa-  dissolved  two  months 
after  n -  firsl  meeting. 

ore  a  year  had  passed  a  second  obstinate  Parliament 
had  met  and  been  sent  to  it-  homesj  February  to  June,  1626). 
The  Common-  were  intractable.  Led  bj  Sir  John  Eliot  the} 
defied  the  king's  claims  to  absolute  power.  When  he  casl 
Eliot  and  Digges  into  prison  their  colleagues  refused  to  tran- 
t  business  until  the  members  were  released,  'liny  even 
voted  i"  impeach  Buckingham  for  hi-  crimes;  hut  before 
they  could  bring  the  favorite  to  trial  Charles  ordered  their 
distsolul  ion. 


214  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

Two  years  had  passed;  two  Parliaments  had  come  and 
gone  without  rilling  the  royal  purse.  The  half-hearted  war 
with  Spain  was  a  total  failure.  To  conciliate  the  Protestants, 
the  king  now  broke  the  pledges  of  Catholic  toleration  by 
which  he  now  hound  himself  to  France  in  the  marriage 
treaty.  Cardinal  Richelieu  was  the  statesman  who  directed 
the  policy  of  Louis  XIIL,  the  French  king.  Late  in  1620  war 
broke  out  between  the  two  countries.  The  independent  Hugue- 
not sea-port  of  Rochelle — "proud  city  of  the  waters" — was 
besieged  by  the  French,  and  Buckingham's  expedition  for 
its  relief  (1027)  ended  in  inglorious  defeat.  "Since  En- 
gland was  England  it  had  not  received  so  dishonorable  a 
blow." 

The  money  for  the  war  was  raised  by  a  "  forced  loan " 
which  was  manifestly  illegal.  Men  who  refused  to  con- 
tribute were  imprisoned  without  trial.  Among  them  was 
John  Hampden,  a  country  squire,  who  said  he  did  not  be- 
grudge the  money,  but  he  dared  not  incur  the  curse  of  Magna 
Charta  by  disobedience  of  its  rules.  Five  of  the  prisoners 
asked  for  trial  on  a  writ  of  Juibecis  corpus,  but  the  servile 
judges  buttressed  the  royal  power  by  declaring  that  it  was 
the  king's  to  say  whether  or  not  men  should  be  tried.  This 
decision  broke  another  provision  of  the  Great  Charter. 
One  after  another  the  hard-won  liberties  of  the  English- 
men  were  bein^  extinguished  bv  the  monarch. 

The  third  Parliament  of  this  reign  met  in  March,  1628. 
Sir  John  Eliot,  according  to  whose  theory  the  king  was  the 
servant  of  Parliament,  was  its  chief  orator  and  most  uncom- 
promising leader.  Sir  Thomas  Wentworth,  keen  and  prac- 
tical, but  of  aristocratic  ideas,  stood  with  Eliot.  In  the  rank 
and  file  of  the  House  were  John  Hampden,  John  Pym,  Denzil 
Holies,  and  another  country  squire,  a  cousin  of  the  "stiff- 
necked"  Hampden — Oliver  Cromwell,  of  the  straitest  sect  of 
the  Puritans. 

Such  earnest  men  did  not  wait  for  another  to  open  the  sub- 


Tin:   StuAKT  T\  i:\nn ;v.  215 

ject  which  was  uppermost  in  all  minds.  With  zealous  care 
they  drew  op  a  "  Petition  <>t*  Right,"  reciting  the  hitherto 
acknowledged  liberties  of  the  kingdom,  and  the  divers  man- 
ners in  which  they  had  been  trampled  upon  by  the  House  of 
Stuarts,  Four  especially  odious  acts  were  specified:  the  lay- 
iii<_r  of  taxes  without  consent  of  Parliament,  the  billeting  of 
troops  upon  private  families,  the  employment  of  martial  law 
in  time  of  peace,  and  the  imprisonment  of  citizens  without 
specified  accusation.     Charles  was  reluctant   to  accept  this 

document  which  proposed  to  curtail  his  authority,  hut  he 
was  iii  sad  financial  straits,  and  his  fawning  judges  told  him 
that  the  execution  of  the  parliamentary  proposals  might 
be  prevented  by  the  emits.  With  extensive  mental  res- 
ervations he  set  his  siguature  t"  the  bill,  and  received 
in  compensation  an  abundant  subsidy  from  his  delighted 
( lommona 

lint  the  Commons  followed  an  their  victory  by  another 
assault  apon  the  favorite.  "We  will  perish  together," 
-.iid  King  Charles.  I  hit  Buckingham  i'ell  first.  He  was  at 
Portsmouth,  superintending  the  embarkation  of  the  forces 
with  which  he  hoped  to  retrieve  his  fortunes  at  Rochelle, 
when  John  Felton,  a  fanatical  Lieutenant,  incited  l>\  motives 
of  revenge  and  patriotism,  Btabbed  him  t<>  the  heart. 

While  Parliament  was  training  its  guns  <>n  the  throne  for 
it-  unlawful  taxes  and  it-  High  Church  Sympathies,  the  kin^ 
did  his  best  to  control  its  deliberation.  The  presiding  officer, 
Speaker  Pinch,  had  royal  orders  which  motions  t<>  entertain 
and  when  to  adjuurii.  The  Commons  grew  restive  under 
this  interference.  Tiny  took  counsel  over  Sunday  what  to 
do.  On  Monday,  March  2,  1629,  thej  met,  with  their  minds 
made  up.  Mr.  Speaker  had  the  king's  command  *to  adjourn 
forthwith,  but    the  House  would  not   adjourn.     When  Pinch 

Would     have    left    the    chair    voting    Holies  and    another   held 

him  in  hi-  Beat,  b wearing  "  he  shall  sit  there  till  it  please  the 
House  to  rise."     The  d a  were   hastih   barred  and  Eliot's 


216  An  Outline  History  op  England. 

voice  rang  out  above  the  tumult.  lie  moved,  amid  the  as- 
senting shouts  of  the  Commons,  three  resolutions,  stating 
plainly  that  whoever  introduced  new  religious  opinions  or 
services,  whoever  advised  the  levy  of  unparliamentary  taxes, 
and  whoever  voluntarily  paid  such  taxes,  was  an  enemy  of 
England.  A  few  days  later  (March  10)  this  Parliament  was 
dissolved.  Sir  John  Eliot,  Holies,  and  other  actors  in  that 
famous  scene  were  arrested;  when  Eliot  died  of  consumption 
in  the  Tower  (1632)  the  spiteful  king  refused  his  body  to  his 
mourning  family. 

Three  Parliaments  had  now  brought  forth  only  trouble — 
the  third  more  than  the  first — and  Kino-  Charles  concluded 
that  much  unpleasantness  might  be  avoided  by  having  no 
more  Parliaments  in  which  these  irreverent  Puritans  meddled 
with  affairs  of  Church  and  State.  For  eleven  years,  accord- 
ingly (1629-1640),  the  king  summoned  them  no  more.  Three 
men  were  his  main  reliance  in  the  period  of  personal  govern- 
ment which  now  opened:  Wentworth,  Laud,  and  Weston. 
Sir  Thomas  Wentworth,  Eliot's  former  colleague,  had  become 
a  royalist  in  1628,  and  by  successive  promotions  attained  the 
rank  of  earl  of  Strafford.  He  was  president  of  the  Council  of 
the  North,  which  administered  the  government  of  the  north- 
ern counties,  and  in  civil  matters  was  a  royal  and  faithful 
counselor.  William  Laud  was  bishop  of  London,  and  was  a 
Churchman  of  the  narrowest  type.  Within  his  diocese  he 
allowed  no  deviation  from  the  established  rules,  and  when 
(1633)  his  elevation  to  the  archbishopric  of  Canterbury  made 
all  England  his  parish  he  enforced  the  laws  of  conformity 
mercilessly  upon  the  Puritans.  AVeston,  the  Lord  Treasurer, 
played  a  subordinate  part,  though  it  was  his  financial  ability, 
the  fertility  and  audacity  of  his  invention  which  furnished 
the  means  by  which  the  unparliamentary  rule  was  supported. 
To  save  expense  he  persuaded  his  master  to  make  peace  with 
both  France  and  Spain  (1630). 

"Thorough"  was  Strafford's   name  for  his  system  of  ad- 


The  Stuart  T\  ban  tfv.  ■_■  l , 

ministration.  A  definite  purpose — to  achieve  good  govern- 
ment by  strengthening  the  power  of  the  king — ruled  all  his 
movements,  ami  in  Laud  he  found  a  willing  and  efficienl  co- 
adjutor.  Together  they  Bet  about  the  administration  of 
Church  and  State  in  such  high-handed  fashion  that,  between 
tax-gathers  and  clergy,  the  Puritans  had  no  peace.  In  L62-9 
the  Massachusetts  Bay  Colony  was  chartered  l>v  a  company 
of  Englishmen  in  <[uest  of  religious  liberty.  Salem  and 
Boston  were  founded  in  the  following  year.  The  tide  of  em- 
igration ebbed  and  flowed  in  sympathy  with  the  vigor  or  re- 
laxation <>f  Went  worth  and  Laud,  l»ut  it  never  entirely 
sed,  and  within  a  dozen  years  from  the  issue  of  the  char- 
ter, 20,000  English  Puritans  left  the  mother  country  tor  the 
N    v  England  wilderness. 

The  problem  of  revenue  was  of  all  the  mosl  immediateand 
puzzling.  The  illegal  tonnage  and  ] ndage  customs  fur- 
nished a  portion;  extensive  monopolies  of  commodities  fed 
another  financial  stream;  land-holders  were  knighted  and 
made  to  pay  for  the  enforced  honor;  obsolete  feudal  lines  and 
dm-  to  the  crown  were  revived  and  collected;  Catholics  paid 
well  for  staying  away  from  church.  The  court  of  Star 
Chamber,  wherein  the  king's  judges  and  counselors  gave 
judgment,  without  jury,  was  the  treasurer's  instrument  of 
oppression   in  these  matters. 

The  need  of  a  flee!  to  protect  commerce  put  a  new  idea 
into  the  heads  of  the  king's  ministers.     An  ancient   practice 

commanding  the  maritime  counties  to  furnish  ships  (■<:■ 
the  navy  was  revived.  The  next  year  (1636)  it  was  ex- 
tended. The  inland  counties  as  well  were  ordered  to  pay  a 
new  tax,  " ship-money,"  to  he  used  in  furnishing  forth  the 
fleet.  Servile  judges  pronounced  the  levy  legitimate,  and  the 
government  thought  that  deliverance  from  its  hard-hips  had 
•  law  tie.l  at  la-t.  If  t hi-  tax  were  law  ful  w  h\  Bummon  another 
Parliament?  .John  Hampden,  of  Buckinghamshire,  com,' 
prehended  the  importance  of  the  principle,  ami  almost  alone 
lo 


218  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

took  stand  against  it.  He  was  not  a  poor  man,  but  he  would 
not  pay  the  twenty  shillings  of  ship-money  which  the  royal 
commissioners  levied  on  him  (1637).  Try  him  they  might 
before  the  royal  Exchequer  Court,  and  convict  him  they  did 
(1638),  but  not  until  the  nation  had  gained  courage  from  the 
knowledge  that  one  patriot  had  not  bowed  his  neck  to  the 
scepter.  Hampden  was  applauded;  his  slavish  judges  were 
reviled.  But  the  new  shackles  which  the  ship-money  decision 
placed  upon  English  freemen  increased  the  numbers  avIio 
longed  for  rest.  A  royal  prohibition  checked  the  emigration 
to  New  England. 

What  the  Star  Chamber  court  was  to  the  civil  government 
the  court  of  High  Commission  was  to  Archbishop  Laud  in 
his  zeal  for  the  Church.  Not  uniform  opinions,  but  outward 
conformity  to  the  Church  laws,  was  his  aim,  and  in 
attaining  it  he  was  as  thorough  as  Strafford  could  wish. 
For  the  numerous  body  of  thoughtful  Puritan  Englishmen, 
whose  conscience  rebelled  at  the  capes,  the  robes,  the  cross- 
ings, bowings,  and  kneelings  of  the  Church  service,  Laud 
had  neither  sympathy  nor  mercy.  With  absolute  intoler- 
ance he  drove  Puritan  ministers  from  their  pulpits,  forced 
the  established  worship  upon  unwilling  congregations,  mak- 
ing it  even  more  outrageous  to  Calvinists  by  innovations 
which,  in  their  sensitive  nostrils,  savored  of  ever-dreaded 
Rome.  "  Dr.  Alabaster  preached  flat  popery,"  said  young  Mr. 
Cromwell  to  the  Commons.  Not  only  were  non-conformist 
preachers  cast  out,  but  laymen  suffered  for  lapses  in  morals 
and  attacks  upon  the  clergy.  William  Prynne,  a  barrister 
with  a  caustic  pen,  had  his  ears  cut  off  for  a  libelous  writing, 
Illstriomastlx,  condemning  the  theater.  Other  men,  who 
condemned  the  Church  for  its  loose  Sabbath-keeping  and  its 
tendency  toward  papistry,  stood  in  the  pillory,  or  sat  in 
the  stocks,  while  the  common  people  stood  b}r  pitying  ;  for 
the  roughest  work  which  Laud  might  do  could  not,  at  short 
notice,  shake  Puritan  England  from  its  settled  beliefs. 


Till"    S  i  i    LB  i    'l'\  1:  \\\  V.  219 

In  1636  Bong  Charles,  who  was  also  king  of  Scotland, 
lt;i\''  Archbishop  Land  permission  to  carry  his  measures  of 
reform  across  the  border,  and  bring  the  Scottish  Kirk  into 
uniformity  with  the  Church  of  England.  The  Kirk  had  been 
modeled  by  John  Knox  and  his  fellow-Calvinists  upon  Btricl 
Presbyterian  principles,  and  the  general  assembly,  which 
made  laws  for  the  Church,  was  the  head  of  an  organization 
more  powerful  than  the  civil  constitution  of  the  realm. 
Andrew  Melville,  a  successor  of  Knox,  had  wounded  the 
vanity  of  King  James  by  telling  him  that  in  the  Scottish 
Kirk  his  majesty  was  "not  a  king,  nor  a  lord,  nor  a  head, 
bul  only  a  member."  Little  wonder  that  James  was  charmed 
bi  contrast  with  the  subservience  of  the  English  bishops. 

He  upheld  the  Church  of  England  against  the  Puritans,  for 
fear  that  Puritanism  would  lead  to  Presbyterianism.  The 
bishops  he  valued  as  a  main  reliance  of  his  theory  of  abso- 
lute power,  and  in  1610  he  forced  upon  the  Scottish  Kirk  an 
anomalous  system,  bishops  being  appointed  to  preside  in  the 
Presbyterian  synods.  James  had  a  wholesome  fear  of  his 
canny  countrymen,  and  he  rejected  Land's  early  schemes  to 
complete  the  re-organization  of  the  Scott  ish  church  establish- 
ment "Hedoesnol  know  the  stomach  of  that  people,"was 
James  Stuart's  comment  on  the  bishop's  plan. 

Charles  was  less  of  a  Scot,  and  knew  less  of  the  Scottish 
tenacity,  or  he  would  have  been  satisfied  with  his  fath< 
progress.  He  let  Laud  place  the  full  control  of  the  Kirk  in 
the  hands  of  the  bishops,  and  force  upon  the  Presbyterian 
preachers  a  liturgy  based  upon  the  English  book  of  common 
prayer.  The  Scots  stopped  their  ears  rather  than  listen  to  tli  • 
new  service.  Jenny  <  reddes  flung  her  stool  at  the  head  of  the 
bishop  who  held  service  at  St.  Giles's  kirk,  Edinburgh  (July 
and  the  riotous  congregation  yelled  "A  pape,  a 
pape!"and  "Stane  him;**  It  was  impossible  to  read  the 
,  ice-book  there  or  elsewhere. 

The  king  raged,  but  th<  mized  committees — "  the 


220  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

Table's" — who,  on  February  28,  1638,  formed  the  Solemn 
League  and.  Covenant  to  recover  and  maintain  the  purity 
and  liberty  of  the  Gospel.  To  regain  his  slipping  grasp 
upon  his  ancestral  kingdom  Charles  sent  the  marquis  of 
Hamilton  to  Edinburgh  with  concessions.  A  general  assem- 
bly of  the  Kirk  was  to  be  held,  and  the  service-book  with- 
drawn. The  assembly  met  at  Glasgow,  November,  1638, 
but  Hamilton  Avas  powerless  to  deal  with  it.  In  defiance  of 
him  and  his  master,  the  Scottish  bishops  were  deposed,  and 
the  whole  system  of  Presbyterianism  was  re-established  as  it 
had  been  thirty  years  before. 

The  overthrow  of  the  royal  and  episcopal  authority  in 
Scotland  was  a  serious  reverse  for  the  policy  of  Thorough. 
AVith  John  Hampden's  resistance  before  them,  and  the  suc- 
cessful revolt  of  the  Scottish  Presbyterians  for  an  example,  the 
English  Puritans  might  rise  against  the  king — Parliament  or 
no  Parliament.  Obviously  the  only  consistent  course  for 
Charles  and  his  archbishop  was  to  crush  the  Scottish  rebell- 
ion by  force.  Money  was  scraped  together  in  odd  ways  for 
the  first  "  Bishops'  War"  (1639),  and  an  army  marched 
toward  Scotland.  Peace  was  patched  up  without  a  battle 
by  the  "Pacification  of  Dunse;"  but  the  Scots  refused  to 
retreat  from  the  course  which  had  been  determined  in  the 
general  assembly  of  Glasgow.  The  king  knew  not  what  to 
do  next,  and  the  earl  of  Strafford  hastened  from  Ireland  to 
give  him  counsel. 

Strafford  had  been  sent  to  Ireland  in  1633  as  governor 
(Lord  Deputy),  and  had  set  up  in  that  distracted  kingdom 
the  policy  of  Thorough  which  was  his  prescription  for  all 
political  ills.  With  supreme  confidence  in  himself  and  in  his 
own  Avisdom  he  decided  what  would  be  best  for  the  Irish;  then 
he  went  to  Avork  to  effect  that  result,  using  indifferently  any 
method — persuasion,  cajoling,  bribery,  force — AAdiich  would 
bring  him  most  quickly  to  his  destination.  Thus  he  estab- 
lished order  in  Ireland,  introduced  the  culture  of  flax  and 


The  Stuart  Tykanny.  22 1 

the  linen  trade,  summoned  an  Irish  Parliament,  and  with  it 
maintained  a  small  standing  army.  In  fact  be  exhibited  <>n 
a  -mall  scale  the  absolutism  of  which  Charles  so  fondly 
dreamed.  It  was  from  this  successful  labor  that  he  was  re- 
called to  England  in  16 

His  advice  was  t«>  Bummon  Parliament.  It  may  be  thai 
his  experience  with  Irishmen  had  effaced   his  memories  of 

gjlish  temper.  Perhaps  he  turned  t<>  Parliament  as  the 
king's  only  hope  at  the  present  crisis.  Letters  had  been  in- 
tercepted which  showed  that  Scotland  and  France  were 
drawing  together;  possibly  Strafford  trusted  in  this  disclos- 
ure to  work  the  nation  to  the  pitch  of  voting  the  money 
which  must  he  had  if  Scotland  were  ool  to  lie  lost.  What- 
ever motive-  may  have  moved  the  king,  this  much  is  certain: 
a  Parliament  met  at  Westminster,  April  L3,  1640,  and,  heed- 
less of  the  intercepted  letters,  immediately  demanded  the 
redress  of  grievances  as  a  prelude  to  the  passage  of  the 
supply  hills.  Evidently  nothing  was  to  he  done  with  BUCh 
advisers,  and  on  May  .">,  1040,  the  "Short  Parliament"  was 
dissolved. 

Spurred  on  by  Wentworth  and  Laud  the  king  renewed 
hostilities  with  Scotland  the  Becond  Bishops'  War — hut. 
hi-  untrained  army  tied  from  the  field  at  Newburn.  The 
Scot-   now    demanded   terms   of    peace    and    settlement,    and 

their  army  encamped  on  English  Boil,  prepared  to  march  on 
t'.  London  to  extent  a  treaty.  Charles  shrank  from  another 
•  •on tl  jet  with  the  Commons;  the  Lords  had  been  less  insolent, 
perhaps  they  would  help  him  now.  A.  council  of  peei-s  met 
in  September,  but  their  only  recommendation  was  to  Bum- 
nion  Parliament.  He  could  do  no  other.  The  Scottish  army 
was  only  held  in  it-  camp  hy  his  promise  to  pay  6850  a 
dav    until    a  permanent    settlement    should    he    reached,   and 

without  Parliament  he  Burely  could  not  raise  that  amount  of 
money.     Writs  of  election  were  accordingly  issued,  and  roy- 
•  and  commoner  plunged  into  the  electoral  battle, 


222  An  Outline  Histoey  of  England. 

John  Hampden,  the  ship-money  hero,  rode  through  the 
country  with  John  Pym,  who  had  grown  gray  in  resistance  to 
the  Stuart  pretensions,  arousing  the  people  to  their  oppor- 
tunity to  fling  off  the  tyranny  of  the  crown.  The  king's  men 
were  beaten  every-where,  and  the  men  who  met  at  West- 
minster on  the  third  of  November,  1640,  came  with  resolute 
purpose  not  to  separate  without  placing  effective  curb  upon 
the  royal  power.  Pym  and  Hampden  were  there — the  former 
the  leader  of  the  Commons,  its  orator,  its  controlling  spirit; 
the  silent  Cromwell  was  there  from  Cambridge  town;  young 
Holies,  who  had  held  Mr.  Speaker  in  his  great  chair  and  been 
in  prison  for  it,  was  there,  with  Lucius  Carey  and  Edward 
Hyde,  who,  in  the  troublesome  times  ensuing,  chose  the  king's 
side,  and  quitted  Parliament,  the  one  to  become  Lord  Falk- 
land and  perish  in  the  civil  wars,  the  other  to  figure  as  Lord 
Clarendon  and  write  a  ponderous  royalist  history  of  what 
seemed  to  him  "  Rebellion."  All  these  and  five  hundred 
others  were  of  that  House  of  Commons,  the  most  famous  or 
infamous — according  to  the  point  of  view — that  ever  sat  in 
England.  This  was  the  "Long  Parliament,"  which  through 
many  vicissitudes  and  adjournments,  expulsions  and  restora- 
tions, existed  until  March  16, 1660;  twenty  years  lacking  eight 
months. 

All  that  Charles  desired  of  Parliament  was  to  furnish 
money  to  pay  the  Scottish  army  its  £850  per  diem,  and  ecpiip 
an  army  of  Englishmen.  But  Parliament  required  more  from 
the  kina:.  It  wanted  to  settle  forever  the  matters  of  arbi- 
trary  imprisonments,  of  unauthorized  taxation,  and  of  Laud's 
ecclesiastical  innovations.  It  was  in  the  main  Puritan,  with 
an  infusion  of  Independent  members.  The  overhanging  pres- 
ence of  the  Scots  in  the  north  gave  to  Parliament  a  power 
over  the  king  which  was  pushed  to  the  utmost  extent.  The 
Scots  would  stay  until  the  stipend  should  be  paid.  Instead 
of  paying  the  Commons  put  the  thumb-screws  on  the  king. 

On  the  eighth  day  of  the  session  they  impeached  the  earl  of 


The  Stuabt  Tykannv.  •-'j:! 

Strafford  of  high  treason,  and  a  few  days  later  Archbishop 
Laud  was  imprisoned  on  the  Bame  accusation.  In  an  im- 
peachment trial  the  House  of  Lords  sal  as  judges.  Treason 
was  crime  against  the  kim;  and  the  Lords  objected  to  con- 
demning the  king's  besl  friend  on  such  a  charge;  so  the  ac- 
cusers hastily  changed  their  plans  and,  relinquishing  the 
trial,  pushed  a  bill  of  attainder  through  both  Houses.  Charles 
wept  like  a  child  when  the  bill  which  was  aimed  at  the  life 
of  his  faithful  supporter  "as  a  public  enemy"  was  given  him 
to  sign; but  he  signed  it,  ami  the  greal  earl,  who  had  trusted 
in  his  ability  to  ,-^t.ildi>h  the  absolute  supremacy  of  his  mon- 
arch over  Parliament  and  nation,  was  executed  on  May  12, 
Mil.  "  Put  not  your  trust  in  princes,"  were  among  the  last 
Words  of   this  aristocrat,  who  had  put  no  trust   in  the  people. 

The  purpose  of  the  Parliament-men  was  to  lie  the  hands  of 

the  monarch  until  they  should  secure  for  the  country  the 
reforms   which   he   had    denied,   or  faithlessly    promised.      In 

February,  1641,  they  compelled  his  assent  to  the  Triennial 
Act,  providing  that  Parliament  should  meet  every  three 
re,  whether  summoned  by  the  crown  or  not.  There  were  to 
1..-  do  more  eleven. year  periods  of  personal  rule.  Two  months 
later  he  consented,  under  pressure,  to  an  enactment  that 
the  Parliament  then  in  Bession  Bhould  he  neither  adjourned 
nor  dissolved  without  its  own  consent.    The  'lay  of  "  addled  " 

and  "short  "  Parliaments  was   over;  the  one    now    in    se-doii 

was  both  brainy  and  protracted.  Assured  of  their  continu- 
ance in  power,  the  Commons  struck  out  boldly.  Tonnage 
and  poundage  taxes  were  condemned,  ship-money  was  pro- 
nounced unlawful,  the  courts  of  Star  Chamber  and  High 
<  mmission  by  which  the  king  had  been  able  t"  cloak  his 
tyranny  with  the  robe  of  the  law  were  abolished.  This  work 
•  lone,  the  Scots  were  paid  "if  and  peace  restored  bet  ween  the 
two  kingdoms  (August,  1641).  Scotland  remained  Presby- 
terian, while  England  was  trying  t"  purify  it>  Church  of  (lie 
I.  ui'lian  innovat  ion-. 


224  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

Of  its  own  free-will  Parliament  dispersed  for  an  autumnal 
recess  of  six  weeks,  leaving  a  committee  of  each  House  to 
watch  for  developments.  Pym  was  chairman  of  the  Com- 
mons committee.  His  name  was  first  in  all  that  the  Com- 
mons did;  the  Royalists,  who  were  much  grieved  at  these 
doings,  ridiculed  the  plain  name  of  the  man,  and  scoffed  at 
his  authority.  "King  Pym"  they  called  him,  and  indeed 
Charles  Stuart  was  less  royal  by  nature  than  this  John  Pym, 
Commoner.  Parliament  re-assembled  October  20,  1641,  in  a 
nervous  condition.  Charles  had  been  in  Scotland,  and  had 
made  the  country  scarcely  knew  what  bargain  with  the  duke 
of  Argyle,  the  head  of  the  Scotch  Presbyterians. 

In  November  horrible  tidings  came  from  Ireland.  Order 
disappeared  when  Strafford's  strong  hand  was  withdrawn,  and 
now  the  Roman  Catholics,  excited  by  the  loss  of  their  lands 
and  by  English  injustice  to  themselves  and  their  ancestors, 
rose  in  savage  insurrection  and  massacred  the  Protestant 
population  of  Ulster — strong  men,  defenseless  women,  and 
helpless  children.  The  king  did  not  seem  sufficiently  shocked 
at  the  news,  and  wicked  men  insinuated  that  he  had  caused 
the  revolt  that  he  might  obtain  from  Parliament  an  army. 
With  an  army  he  might  perhaps  disperse  other  enemies  be- 
sides Irish  rebels.  However,  no  troops  were  granted  to  him; 
on  the  contrary,  the  Commons  drew  up,  after  serious  debate, 
a  Grand  Remonstrance — 206  articles  long — relating  the  un- 
lawful acts  of  the  reign.  The  majority  for  it  was  small, 
and  an  old  story  has  it  that  Mr.  Cromwell  was  heard  to  say 
as  he  left  the  hall,  that  "if  the  Remonstrance  had  not  passed 
he  would  have  sold  all  and  gone  to  New  England." 

This  paper,  printed  and  read  in  every  English  parish, 
molded  opinion  in  support  of  its  authors.  The  king  paid  it 
little  heed;  he  had  conceded  much  under  stress  of  circum- 
stances, but  his  belief  in  the  justice  and  legality  of  his 
own  course  was  unshaken,  and  he  still  meant  to  recover 
the  ground  from  which  his  enemies  had  driven  him,     The 


Titt  Stuart  Tyranny.  225 

Church  organization  had  been  attacked  at  the  spring  ses- 
sion, when  the  Commons  had  made  an  unsuccessful  attempt 
to  oust  the  bishops  from  the  House  of  Lords,  where  they 
acted  with  the  royalist  majority.  In  December  an  unguard- 
ed act  of  the  bishops  themselves  enabled  the  Commons  to 
imprison  them.  This  was  followed  by  a  law  depriving  them 
of  their  Beats  in  the  upper  House. 
January  i.  L642,  was  one  of  the   memorable  days  <>f  the 

lion.  The  king's  patience  was  at  an  end.  Against 
Lord  Kimbolton  and  four  Commoners,  "  King " Pym, " ship- 
money"  Hampden,  Holies  and  Strode,  was  raised  royal  accu- 
sation of  treasonable  correspondence  with  Scotland.  Charles 
kissed  Queen  Henrietta  Maria  good-bye,  and  went  to  West- 
minster with  five  hundred  men  to  arrest  the  five.  "The 
birds  were  flown" — to  use  his  own  surprised  expression — 
when  he  entered  the  House,  and  their  colleagues  deafened 
the  ears  of  their  royal  master  as  he  retired  with  cries  of 
"privilege,"  "privilege,"  meaning  thai  the}-  considered  his 
act  a  breach  of  their  privilege  as  legislators. 

On  the  10th  of  January  Charles  quitted  his  palace  of 
Whitehall  for  the  north  of  England,  where  he  was  safer 
than  in  the  Puritan  capital.  He  could  only  return  at  the 
head  of  an  army;  the  qui  en  crossed  to  Holland  to  pawn  the 

crown-jewel-  for   artillery  and    small  arm-.      Both  sides   now 

saw  far  enough  into  the  future  to  perceive  the  inevitable  con- 
flict, and  each  party  sel  aboul  strengthening  itself .  The  Roy- 
alists in  the  t  wo  Houses,  to  the  number  of  ninety-seven,  left 
their  place-  and  joined  the  kinu'  al  York.  Since  Parliament 
could  do  longer  obtain  the  royal  assenl  to  its  enactments, 
it  decided  that  such  approval  was  needless.  "Ordinances" 
was  the  name  given  to  these  unapproved  laws. 

On  June  2   nineteen  propositions  were  submitted  by  the 
I     mmonstothe  king.  They  required  him  to  surrender  to  Par- 
liament the  control  of  the  militia,  the  possession  of  forts  and 
•  nals,  the  reformation  of  the  <  'Lurch,  the  appointment  of 

10* 


226  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

the  royal  ministers.  "  No  surrender  "  was  the  royal  policy; 
the  propositions  were  rejected,  whereupon  Parliament  as- 
sumed control  of  the  militia,  made  the  earl  of  Essex  its  chief 
commander,  and  selected  a  committee  of  public  safety  to  un- 
dertake the  defense.  For  his  part  Charles  raised  the  royal 
standard  at  Nottingham  (August  22,  1642).  Before  the  close 
of  the  summer  the  armies  of  the  rival  powers,  king  and  Par- 
liament, were  ready  for  action.     The  civil  war  had  begun. 

The  fighting  of  the  first  year  of  the  war  went  against  the 
Parliamentary  armies.  Their  soldiers  were  the  peasantry 
and  the  city  rabble,  while  the  cavalry,  the  pride  of  the  royal 
camp,  was  composed  of  gentlemen  of  spirit,  well  armed,  well 
fed,  and  mounted  on  thoroughbred  hunters.  Prince  Rupert, 
son  of  James  Stuart's  daughter,  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia,  was 
the  dashing  leader  of  these  cavaliers,  and  he  made  short  work 
of  the  "  round-head "  trained  bands,  as  the  short-haired 
Puritans  were  called  by  the  curled  fops  of  Charles's  court. 
The  first  battle,  at  Edgehill,  Oct.  23,  1642,  was  indecisive,  but 
the  royalists  marched  on  London,  and  only  the  bold  front  of 
London  trained-bands  kept  them  out  of  the  city.  Neither 
party  ventured  upon  pitched  battles;  the  northern,  western, 
and  midland  counties  were  steadfastly  royalist.  The  coun- 
ties of  the  south  and  east  bound  themselves  in  associations  to 
support  the  Parliamentary  cause.  Oliver  Cromwell,  now  a 
colonel  of  horse,  was  a  leading  spirit  in  the  eastern  associa- 
tion. 

Throughout  the  second  year  of  the  war  the  Royalists 
gained  ground.  Essex  proved  slow  and  inefficient.  Some- 
thing ailed  the  Parliament's  troops ;  Colonel  Cromwell  told 
Hampden  that  they  were  'prentices  and  tapsters,  sure  to  run 
from  the  high-spirited  gentlemen  who  opposed  them.  If  he 
had  his  way  he  would  oppose  these  men  of  honor  with  sober 
men  of  religion.  Patriot  Hampden  fell  (June,  1643)  in  fight, 
but  cousin  Cromwell  put  his  theory  into  practice.  His  reg- 
iment of  horse,  "  Ironsides,"  becomes  noted  for  its  religious 


The  Stttaut  Tyranny.  227 

zeal.    The  men  pray  before  battle,  and  never  retreat.    "Truly 
they  were  never  beaten  at  all,"  said  their  leader. 

Parliament  was  not  inactive,  whatever  may  be  said  of  its 
armies.  A  Puritan  assembly,  in  session  by  its  side  at  West- 
minster  Bince  .Inly  l,  liit:>,  was  considering  the  reform  of 
the  Church;   the   bishops  had    joined  the  king,  and  affairs 

lesiastical  were  in  utter  disorganization.  To  the  Presby- 
terianisra  of  Scotland  Pym  turned  for  example  and  aid.  In 
return  for  military  assistance  againsl  tlie  kin?,  Parliament 
promised  to  take  the  Covenant  by  which  the  Scots  had  estab- 
lished their  own  Kirk.  On  September  25,  1G43,  25  peers  and 
28S  of  the  commons  signed  the  "Solemn  League  and  Cov- 
enant," binding  the  government  to  make  the  religion  of  the 
three  kingdoms  uniform  in  faith  and  worship.  Thus  Pres- 
byterianism  was  established  in  place  <>f  Episcopalianism  as 
the  State  religion  of  England,  and  2,000  Church  of  England 
clergyman  left  their  pulpits  rather  than  accept  the  Cove- 
nant which  was  now  offered  every-where  as  a  test  of  loyalty 
to  the  Parliament.  An  executive  committee  of  Scottish  and 
English  \\a>  charged  with  the  conduct  of  the  war.  This 
alliance  drove  the  king  to  a  base  resort:  he  made  league 
with   the   Irish    rebels,    red-handed  from  the  massacres  of 

ter. 
The  death  of  Pym  in  December  saddened  hut  did  not 
dismay  his  party.  In  January  Alexander  Leslie,  with  the 
forded  the  Tweed.  Fairfax  and  Waller  scattered  the 
Irish  contingent  before  it  could  he  of  service  to  the  king. 
Toward  night-fall  on  the  2d  of  duly,  ion,  Prince  Rupert, 
whose  brilliant  and  rapid  movements  had  thus  far  made  him 
the  most  notable  royalist  figure  in  the  war,  attacked  the  al- 
lies on  Marston  Moor,  in  Yorkshire.  The  Scotch  quailed 
before  the  fury  of  his  charge,  but  Cromwell's  steady  Iron- 
sides outmatched  the  cavaliers  and  chased  them  from  the 
field.  The  north  of  England,  with  York  and  Newcastle, 
surrendered  to  the  Parliamentary  leaders.     In  the  south,  how- 


228  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

ever,  the  lumbering  Essex  scarcely  held  his  ground;  in  Corn- 
wall his  infantry  was  captured  by  the  king. 

In  the  fall  and  winter  the  royalists  of  the  Scottish  High- 
lands, under  the  vigorous  lead  of  the  marquis  of  Montrose, 
and  aided  by  a  contingent  from  Ireland,  harried,  burned,  and 
killed  in  the  Lowlands,  in  the  hope  that  Leslie's  army  would 
withdraw  from  England  to  defend  its  homes.  In  October, 
Charles  again  marched  on  London,  but  was  repulsed  at  New- 
bury. Cromwell  thought  that  repulse  was  not  enough;  such 
an  army  as  he  would  construct  would  have  made  short  work 
of  the  king.  He  complained  to  Parliament  that  the  generals 
were  "afraid  to  conquer;"  and  he  was  right.  The  major- 
ity of  Parliament  wished  to  force  Charles  to  resume  the 
throne  and  govern  as  a  Presbyterian  sovereign,  with  proper 
checks  and  limitations  upon  his  authority.  They  did  not 
wish  to  kill  him,  or  "  to  beat  him  too  badly."  For  these 
half-way  measures  Cromwell  had  no  use.  He  proposed  a 
sweeping  military  reform,  a  new-modeling  of  the  army  on  the 
Ironside  plan. 

The  withdrawal  of  the  royalists  and  the  acceptance  of  the 
Covenant  had  left  Parliament  almost  unanimously  Presby- 
terian. Archbishop  Laud  had  been  executed  for  treason 
(January  1645),  and  the  Church  of  England  liturgy  had  been 
replaced  by  a  simpler  service  like  that  of  the  Scottish  Kirk. 
From  1643  to  1648  an- Assembly  of  Divines  sat  at  Westmin- 
ster establishing  a  creed,  a  liturgy,  and  a  system  of  Church 
government  for  English  Presbyterians.  In  April,  1645,  Pres- 
byterianism  was  by  law  established  the  religion  of  England, 
and  it  was  the  purpose  of  Parliament  to  compel  the  nation 
to  conform  to  it  by  measures  as  stringent  as  those  of  Laud 
himself. 

.Cromwell's  plans  of  military  reform  were  adopted  in 
April,  1645.  By  a  "self-denying  ordinance"  all  members  of 
Parliament — except  Cromwell,  now  deemed  indispensable — 
were  removed  from  military  command.     Sir  Thomas  Fairfax 


Tin:   Sn   \k  i    Tyb  wny.  229 

Bucoeeded  Essex  as  captain-general,  with  Colonel  Cromwell 
for  his  lieutenant.  The  entire  force  was  reorganized  on  the 
plans  of  the  famous  regiment  of  horse.  "Honesl  men  of  re? 
ligion,  wlio.se  heart  was  in  the  cause,"  were  its  commissioned 
officers,  whether  they  were  draymen,  butchers,  or  gentle- 
men of  family  and  fortune.  So  far  as  possible  the  same 
principles  were  carried  into  the  rank  and  file,  and  when  the 
••  New  Model/'  as  the  force  was  called,  took  the  field,  the 
king's  gay  troopers  faced  the  most  remarkable  military  body 
thai  had  ever  mustered  in  England.  Prayer-meetings,  psalm- 
singings,  sermons,  and  exhortations  were  the  avocations  of 
these  nun,  among  whom  was  one  dreamy  lad,  John  Bunyan, 
and  others  whom  the  world  has  not  forgotten. 

While  tlu'  New  Model  was  mustering  and  drilling,  and 
the  Parliament  wavered  between  war  and  peace,  the  royalists 
caught  glimpses  of  success.  They  saw  their  enemies 
divided  and  the  army  a  mass  of  raw  recruits  under  new 
officers.  Montrose  wrote  from  Scotland  that  he  should 
soon  he  able  t<>  send  re-enforcements.  In  February,  ltiiii, 
the  kimr  had  obstinately  refused  to  come  to  terms  with 
Parliament  :  in  June  he  took  the  offensive  ami  attacked  the 
New  Model  at  Naseby  (June  1  i,  L645).  Cromwell  com- 
manded the  cavalry  that  day  and  surpassed  his  fiats  at 
Marston  Moor.  Officers  and  Boldiers  no  Longer  feared  to 
conquer.  Tin-  raw  troops  routed  the  king's  men,  captured 
camp,  royal  papers,  artillery,  and  two  thirds  of  the  army. 

The  civil  war  was  over.  The  defeal  of  Montrose  al  Philip- 
baugh,  September  13,  destroyed  the  royalist  party  in  Scot- 
land, and  on  March  26,  l < > J < "> ,  the  soldiers  of  Parliament  won 
the  last  battle  at  Stow. 

Tin-  defeat  of  the  royalists  hit  two  parties  in  the  kingdom — 
Parliament  and  the  New,  Model.  The  former  was  bent  upon 
forcing  Presbyterianism  upon  the  nation.  Tic  latter,  in 
which  the  Independents  were  influential,  demanded  that  the 
toleration  of  all  Protestant   sects  Bhould  form  part  of  any 


230  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

settlement  which  should  be  made  with  the  king.  In  May, 
1646,  Charles  gave  himself  up  to  the  Scottish  Presbyterian 
army,  which  was  still  encamped  in  the  north.  He  did  not 
realize  that  he  was  conquered,  and  believed  that  the  differ- 
ence of  opinion  between  the  Parliament  and  army  would 
divide  his  enemy  and  make  his  triumph  possible.  The 
agreement  which  Parliament  asked  him  to  sign  provided  for 
his  restoration  to  the  throne,  but  placed  the  militia  under 
the  command  of  Parliament  for  twenty  years,  and  sanctioned 
the  Presbyterian  form  of  worship  for  the  English  Church. 
This  suited  neither  the  king  nor  the  army,  who  desired 
toleration  for  persons  outside  the  Established  Church.  For 
the  sum  of  £400,000  the  Scots  surrendered  Charles  to  Parlia- 
ment and  marched  home  (January  30,  1647). 

Feeling  between  the  New  Model  and  the  Presbyterians 
grew  more  intense.  The  party  of  the  Independents  in 
Parliament  had  gained  strength  by  new  elections  which  filled 
the  places  of  absent  royalists,  and  the  majority  feared  for 
their  supremacy.  The  army,  which  was  determined  to  secure 
the  religious  liberties  for  which  it  had  fought,  defied  the 
order  of  Parliament  to  disband.  Cromwell,  accused  of  in- 
citing mutiny,  fled  from  the  wrath  of  the  Commons  to  the 
camp.  Cornet  Joyce,  with  a  detachment  of  the  New  Model, 
seized  the  ill-guarded  king  at  Ilolmby  House  (June,  1647). 
All  parties  now  negotiated  with  Charles,  and  his  sense  of  his 
own  importance  was  inordinately  increased.  He  heard  them 
all,  pretended  to  favor  each,  but  was  sincere  with  none.  On 
November  11,  1647,  he  escaped  to  the  Isle  of  Wight,  where 
he  signed  a  secret  treaty  with  Scotland.  The  Scots  were 
rabidly  Presbyterian,  and  resolute  to  force  the  same  system 
upon  England,  in  spite  of  the  liberal  ideas  of  the  New  Model. 
Charles  promised  to  aid  them  in  return  for  armed  assistance. 
In  January,  1648,  the  kingdom  was  again  at  war.  The 
royalists  rose  in  half  the  counties  ;  the  Presbyterians  in 
Parliament  vehemently  opposed  the  Cromwellian  army,  and 


'I'm:    Si  i  ai;i    Tl  1: an  w.  231 

a  Scottish  force  prepared  to  invade  England.  Cromwellput 
down  the  royalisl  revolt,  arid  Parliament,  having  declared 
the  Independents  heretical  and  blasphemous,  re-opened  its 
treaties  with  Charles.  The  Scutch  invasion  under  the  duke 
of  Hamilton  was  met  and  hurled  back  by  Cromwell  in  a  three 
days1  fight  at  Preston  Pans,  August  17  to  L9,  L648.  Fairfax 
reduced  the  south  to  submission.  The  army  again  seized  the 
king,  and  giving  up  all  compromise  marched  upon  London. 
Having  determined  with  prayerful  deliberation  what  course 
to  pursue,  Cromwell,  now  supreme  in  the  New  Model,  let  no 
weak  scruples  block  his  path.  <  >n  the  sixth  and  seventh  days 
December,  1648,  the  Commons,  <>n  entering  their  hall,  had 
t"  pass  by  Colonel  Pride,  whose  soldiers  arrested  at  his  orders 
the  members  whom  he  ] •* > i 1 1 1 1 • « I  out.  "Pride's  Purge"  cost 
Parliament  its  Presbyterian  majority.  The  remnant — "the 
1  imnj)  its  inclines  called  it — comprised  some  sixty  Inde- 
pendent members,  who  continued  to  exercise  the  authority 
of  a  full  Parliament,  executing  promptly  the  will  of  the 
council  of  officers  which  Cromwell  directed.  A  special 
tribunal  of  one  hundred  and  thirty-five  persons — the  High 
Court  of  Justice  -was  set  up  to  try  the  charges  against  the 
kiic_r.  The  House  of  Lords  declining  to  participate  the 
<  lommons  declared  themselves  the  sole  Legislature  of  the 
realm.  Men  shrank  from  the  impending  act.  Barely  half 
the  commissioners  took  part  in  the  trial.  Charles  made  no 
defense  bevond  declaring  that  the  court  had  no  jurisdiction 
over  him.  Butthecourl  was  satisfied  of  its  authority.  Sen- 
tence of  death  was  passed  upon  him  January  ^'7,  and  on  the 
30th  i  he  misguided  Charles  Stuart  was  beheaded  at  White- 
hall. Upon  the  Commons1  order  it  wa-  proclaimed  in  ever} 
English  town  and  county,  "that  whosoever  shall  proclaim  a 
new  king,  Charh  -  8      'id  or  any  other,  without  authority 

Parliament,  in  this  nati f  England,  -hall   he  a  traitor  and 

suffer  death."     And  here,  thought   many,  England  had  for- 
ever done  with  king 


232  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 


CHAPTER  XIII. 

THE  COMMONWEALTH  AND  THE  RESTORATION. 
1649  A.  D.-1685  A.  D. 

FROM  THE  EXECUTION  OF  CHARLES  I.  TO  THE  DEATH  OF  CHARLES  II. 

For  eleven  years  (1649-1660)  there  was  no  king  in  En- 
gland, and  no  settled  form  of  government.  Episcopalian 
and  Presbyterian  royalists  desired  a  king  of  the  House  of 
Stuart;  other  Presbyterians  and  Puritans  stood  for  Parlia- 
ment and  a  republic;  the  many  sects  who  constituted  the 
army  would  have  no  king,  nor  any  republic  in  which  their 
ideas  should  not  be  tolerated. 

Cromwell,  whom  the  struggle  had  raised  to  the  command 
of  the  army  and  the  chief  power,  was  for  the  establishment 
of  a  constitutional  government  in  which  the  executive  power 
should  be  under  legislative  checks,  and  which  should  grant 
toleration  for  differences  of  religious  belief. 

The  Lower  House  of  the  Long  Parliament,  bereft  of  its 
royalist  members,  purged  of  its  Presbyterians,  and  by  its  own 
act  freed  from  the  House  of  Lords,  was,  at  the  king's  death  (Jan- 
uary, 1649)  the  poor  representative  of  constitutional  govern- 
ment in  England.  About  fifty  members,  dubbed  the  "  Rump," 
took  part  in  its  deliberations,  and  established  a  council  of 
State,  of  forty-one  members  (three  judges,  three  army  officers, 
five  peers,  and  thirty  members  of  the  House  of  Commons, 
under  presidency  of  Bradshaw,  chief  of  the  commission  which 
had  condemned  the  king).  England  was  proclaimed  a  Com- 
monwealth and  Free  State  without  king  or  House  of  Lords. 

Imminent  dangers  threatened  the  Commonwealth.  Crom- 
well's  relentless  energy  crushed  a  dangerous  mutiny  of 
"  Levelers "    in    the    army,    and    reformed    the    discipline. 


Tim:    COMMONWEALTH     \M>   THE    RESTORATION.         233 

Charles  Stuart,  the  late  king's  eldest  Bon,  was  safe  in  Holland, 
where  his  Bister,  the  Princess  Mary,  was  wife  of  the  chief 
magistrate,  William  of  Orange.  -V  large  party  in  Scotland 
urged  him  to  claim  his  own.  Ireland,  which  had  never  yel 
been  punished  for  the 'massacres  of  1G4  1,  was  thoroughly 
royalist,  and  its  ruler,  the  marquis  of  Ormond,  urged  young 
Charles  to  come  thither  for  support.  There  was  need  of 
prompt  action,  and  Cromwell  was  chosen  to  perform  it.  As 
genera]  of  the  Commonwealth  he  landed  in  Ireland  in  Aug- 
gust,  1649.  InSeptember  the  royalists  in  Drogheda  rejected 
his  terms  of  surrender,  and  he  took  the  town  by  storm,  grant- 
ing no  quarter  to  the  soldiers.  Barely  thirty  escaped  alive. 
Wexford  garrison  took  no  warning  by  the  fate  of  Drogheda, 
and  its  capture  was  followed  by  a  like  scene  of  blood.  In  his 
reports  to  Parliament  Cromwell  said  of  these  horrors,  "  I  am 
persuaded  that  this  is  a  righteous  judgment  of  God  upon 
these  barbarous  wretches,  who  have  imbrued  their  hands  in 
so  much  innocent  blood"  [the  Ulster  massacres];  "and  that  it 
will  tend  to  prevent  the  effusion  of  blood  for  the  future." 
They  had  the  desired  effeel  ;  after  nine  months,  stay  in  Ire- 
land, the  commander   safely   ventured    to   leave   the    Irish 

* 

command  to  his  lieutenant  and  son-in-law,  Ireton,  under  whom 
and  his  successor,  Ludlow,  the  island  was  reduced  to  order 
(1649—52).  The  "order"  was  Becured  by  seizing  royalist 
estates  in  three  fourths  of  Ireland,  and  planting  greal  bodies  of 
S  »tch  and  English  colonists  upon  the  confiscated  lands. 
The  mat  dial  prosperity  of  the  country  was  thereby  increased, 
but  the  line  between  Protestant  and  Catholic  was  more  sharp- 
ly drawn  than  ever,  and  the  [rish  peaaanl  added  the  name  of 
<  romwell  to  his  roll  of  bated  Saxons. 

In  midsummer  of  1650  Cromwell,  now  captain-general  of 
the  army,  invaded  Scotland.  In  June  young  Charles  Stuart 
landed  in  the  northern  kingdom.  He  took  the  Covenant,  and 
promised  to  rule  the  nation  as  a  Presbyterian  king. 

A  large  army  prepared  to  repel  the  English  invasion,  l>ut. 


234  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

Leslie,  its  general,  followed  the  waiy  policy  of  the  Roman 
Fabins.  To  save  his  men  from  starvation  Cromwell  turned 
back  toward  England.  Leslie  followed,  and  gaining  the 
heights  of  Dunbar  blocked  all  routes  of  advance  or  retreat. 
Cromwell  seemed  lost,  but  the  eagerness  of  the  Scots  placed 
victory  in  his  hands.  At  dawn  of  September  3,  1650,  the 
enemy  descended  to  the  valley,  and  as  they  came  down  the 
Puritan  army,  chanting  a  psalm  of  David,  scattered  them  in 
utter  ruin.  Edinburgh  and  Glasgow  surrendered;  but  while 
Cromwell  was  busy  in  the  north,  Charles  II.  was  formally 
crowned  at  Scone,  and  plunged  into  the  heart  of  England  at 
the  head  of  an  army  (July,  1051).  Cromwell  gave  chase.  On 
September  3,  the  anniversary  of  Dunbar,  he  routed  the  royal- 
ists and  Scots  under  the  walls  of  Worcester.  The  entire 
invading  force  fell  into  the  hands  of  the  Commonwealth. 
The  king  fled  this  way  and  that  from  Cromwell's  troopers, 
hiding  in  an  oak  tree  as  they  rode  under,  riding  away  in 
servant's  dress  with  a  gentle-woman,  Jane  Lane,  on  the 
pillion,  and  after  strange  adventures  crossing  the  Channel 
in  a  Brighton  collier. 

"  It  is,  for  aught  I  know,  a  crowning  mercy,"  wrote  the 
Puritan  general  to  Parliament  of  Worcester  fight,  and  hence- 
forward September  3,  the  day  of  Dunbar  and  Worcester, 
was  his  "fortunate  day."  And  crowning  mercy  it  was. 
Cromwell  fought  no  more  battles.  His  subordinates,  Monk 
and  Deane,  restored  order  and  English  authority  in  Scotland, 
and  he  busied  himself  more  and  more  with  the  civil  govern- 
ment. The  Rump  Parliament,  through  the  Council  of  State, 
was  ruling  England,  and  in  the  hands  of  a  few  vigorous  spirits 
like  Sir  Harry  Vane  was  endeavoring  to  strengthen  itself  to 
withstand  Cromwell  and  the  army,  when  the  inevitable  con- 
flict should  arise  between  the  two.  By  Vane's  efforts  a 
strong  fleet  had  been  launched  in  the  Channel,  and  small 
causes  of  offense  had  been  nursed  into  an  open  war  with 
Holland — a  war  which  produced  a  series  of  naval  battles  in 


I'm:  Commonwealth  am>   mm:  Restoration. 

the  Channel  between  the  English  Admiral  Blake  ami  Gen- 
eral Monk  and  the  brilliant  Dutch  Bea-fighters,  Van  Tromp 
and  1'  Ruyter.  The  war  lasted  from  July,  L'652,  until  April, 
1654,  and  accomplished  nothing  of  real  advantage  to  either 
country. 

A  settled  government  and  the  healing  of  political  wounds 
wa-  the  constant  demand  of  Cromwell  and  the  army,  hut  the 
Rump  had  its  own  plans  for  settlement  and  healing.  The  Par- 
liament's plan  was  that  the  Rump  itself  should  have  charge  of 
tin-  work.  It  was  proposed  u>  .all  a  new  Parliament,  hut  the 
Rump  undertook  to  pa^s  a  hill  not  only  constituting  itself  a 
part  of  the  new  body,  bul  making  itself  judge  of  the  new  elec- 
tions. Cromwell  entered  the  House  as  tin-  hill  was  passing, 
interrupted  the  session,  pronounced  the  Parliament  dissolved, 
and,  witli  a  file  of  soldiers,  drove  the  members  from  their 
chamber,  April  20,  1653.  This  was  the  first  dissolution  of 
the  hong  Parliament  of  1640,  which  had  the  word  of  King 
Charles  I.  that  it  should  not  be  dissolved  without  its  own 
consent.     The  Council  of  State  fell  by  the  same  blow. 

The  Puritan  army  was  now  supreme.  Cromwell  and  a 
council  of  officers  and  civilians  hit  upon  a  plan  for  a  new- 
Parliament.  The  soldiers  believed  that  they  were  the  espe- 
cially ch08en  servants  of  God  in  overthrowing  the  king  and 
Parliament.  It  was  now  proposed  to  vest  the  civil  au- 
thority in  a  body  of  men  chosen  with  main  reference  to 
their  godliness.  Accordingly  between  •-even  and  eight  score 
Puritan  gent  emen  were  summoned  by  name  to  this  assem- 
bly of  nominees,  called  from  its  numbers  the  "  Little  Parlia- 
ment," and  "Barebones  Parliament,"  from  the  name  of 
Prai  G  I  Barebones,  one  of  its  worthy  members.  Hut  the 
godly  men  were  the  most  incapable  of  legislators,  running 
after  all  sorts  of  whimsies  and  novelties  of  government. 
(  unwell  himself  was  ashamed  of  them,  as  he  afterward 
confessed.  "Overturn,  overturn,"  was  their  whole  policy, 
he  said.     In    December,  greatly   to  his  relief,  the  common 


236  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

sense  of  a  large  minority  led  them  to  resign  their  power 
into  his  hands,  an  example  soon  followed  by  the  majority. 

This  "Assembly  of  Nominees,"  "  Barebones  Parliament," 
or   "Puritan    Convention,"    had  named    a  new   Council   of 
State,   which,  in  co-operation  with  the  army  officers,  drew 
up  a  written  constitution  for  the  government  of  the  com- 
monwealth.      This    "Instrument   of    Government"  provid- 
ed for  a  chief  executive  officer  called  "Lord  Protector  of 
the   Commonwealth    of    England,    Scotland,    and    Ireland." 
Oliver  Cromwell  was  named    for   this    office.      He  was  to 
have  an  executive  council  of  21,  and  an  army  of  30,000  men. 
A   Parliament  of  one   House  of   400    members   was   to    be 
chosen    triennially,    and    should    have   sole  power  to  grant 
appropriations  of  money  and  lay  taxes.     Scotland  and  Ire- 
land were  to  be    represented   in  it,  but   no  active  royalist 
might   sit    there.     For  the  nine   months   which  intervened 
between    the    establishment   of    the    Protectorate   and   the 
assembling  of  this  new  Parliament,  Oliver  and  his  council 
governed  England  with  a  firm  hand.     Peace  was  concluded 
with  Holland,  and  the  era  opened  auspiciously.     But  new 
troubles  appeared  as  soon  as  Parliament  met  (September  3, 
1053).       Over   one   hundred    members,    declining    to    obey 
the    provisions    of    the    "  Instrument,"    were    excluded  by 
Oliver's  order,  and  the  others   showed  a  desire  to  hed^e  in 
and  curtail  the  Protector's  authority.     The   army  was  left 
unpaid  and  matters  which  Cromwell  had   settled  were  re- 
opened.    Five  months  after  its  first  meeting  the  Protector 
dissolved  the  body,  saying  bitterly,  "  It  looks  as  if  the  lay- 
ing grounds  for  a  quarrel  had  rather  been  designed  than  to 
give  the  people  settlement." 

The  Parliamentary  apparatus  failing  to  work,  the  Lord 
Protector  enjoyed  absolute  power.  The  republicans  hated 
him  as  a  king,  the  royalists  as  a  usurper  of  the  Stuart  throne; 
both  parties  failed  in  their  plots  against  his  life.  But 
Oliver's  rule  was  a  glorious  period  for  England.     The  great 


Tin:   C  >'M  m.>\\\  i:\1.1 11     v\i>    1111:    E&ESTOBATIOX. 

daw  of  Elizabeth  seemed  to  retain.  Scotland  became  or- 
derly and  at  rest.  Ireland,  whipped  into  submission,  received 
thousands  of  thrifty  colonists.     The  exploits  of   Blake  and 

tlir  admirals  recalled  the  daring  of  Drakeand  Howard.  The 
hero  of  the  Dutch  wars  chastised  the  Barbary  pirates;  Vena- 
blesand  Penn  (father of  William  Penn of  American  memory  | 
captured  Jamaica  from  the  Spaniards  in  time  of  peace  ;  1 1 1  *  - 
persecuted  Vaudois  Protectants  found  safety  in  the  protec- 
tion of  England.  England  ranged  herself  with  Prance  (1655) 
for  war  with  Spain  (1656  to  L659).  In  this  war  Blake 
twice  captured  the  Spanish  treasure  fleet,  once  destroying 
it  in  the  harbor  of  Santa  Cruz  in  the  Canary  Inlands,  under 
a  tremendous  tire  from  ships  and  forts.  The  battle  of  the 
Dunes,  in  .Tun*',  1G58,  gave  the  town  of  Dunkirk  in  the 
Spanish  Netherlands  to  England — a  recompense  for  Mary 
Tudor's  loss  of  ( Jalais. 

To  govern  restive   England  was  a  more  exacting  business 
than  to  defeat  the   Dutch,  in  the  Channel,  or  the   Spanish  on 

tin can.     Royalist    risings    were   frequent,   and    only   the 

rpowering  might  of  thai  splendidly  disciplined  army  kept 
the  peace.  After  Peuruddock's  rising,  in  March,  1655,  the 
Protector  divided  the  island  into  ten  military  districts,  each 
commanded  by  a  major-general  at  the  head  of  an  armed 
force  supported  by  tithes  upon  the  property  of  royalists. 
Military  rule  maintained  artificial  order,  ami  Looked  into  the 
moral-  of  men  as  well.  The  country  was  held  down  by 
force  proceeding  from  the  minority.  In  November,  L655,  the 
Protector  was  obliged  to  modify  hi--  policy  of  toleral  ion.  The 
friend-  of  the  king  w<  re  commonly  the  friends  of  the  <  lunch. 
A  cordingly  ( !romwell  forbade  public  service  of  the  Anglican 
Church,  and  the  use  of  the  prayer-book.  Priests  were  banished 
from  the  island.  Quakers,  Anabaptists  and  other  new  sects 
were  put  under  restraint   -not,   because  of  their  intolerable 

religious  opinion-,  l.ut   because  men  of  those  opinions  were  f<>r 

ilism,  or  again  jtablished  order  of  the  commonwealth. 


238  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

In  September,  1656,  the  Protector  summoned  a  second 
Parliament  under  the  terms  of  the  Instrument.  He  had  been 
governing  by  major-generals,  by  ordinances,  by  an  army — 
not  at  all  by  precedent  or  constitution.  Charles  Stuart  had 
never  been  half  so  tyrannical  as  Oliver  Cromwell ;  but  Oliver 
now  stood  alone  between  England  and  anarchy.  Yet  he  had 
no  desire  to  be  an  absolute  ruler.  His  oft-expressed  wish  was 
for  the  people  of  England  to  co-operate  for  the  salvation  of 
the  liberties  which  the  sword  had  won.  His  government 
failed  because  the  people  were  unwilling  to  do  their  part. 

The  new  Parliament  had  four  hundred  members,  like  the 
last.  No  papists,  no  "malignant"  royalists  were  eligible. 
Even  of  those  elected  neraly  one  hundred  were  excluded  by 
the  Protector  and  council  because  of  their  violent  opinions — 
likely  to  delay  the  wished-for  settlement  of  the  government. 
The  House,  thus  purged,  soon  commenced  the  revision  of  the 
Instrument  of  Government,  thinking  to  furnish  the  nation 
with  a  better  constitution.  Great  changes  were  introduced  in 
this  "Petition  and  Advice"  in  which  the  recommendations 
of  Parliament  were  embodied,  and  the  changes  were  in  the 
direction  of  the  earlier  constitution.  For  one  House  of  Par- 
liament there  should  be  two — the  "  Other  House  "  correspond- 
ing in  indistinct  fashion  to  the  House  of  Lords.  The  Pro- 
tector's authority  was  to  be  extended  so  that  he  might  name 
his  successor  and  have  a  fixed  and  permanent  revenue.  His 
title  was  changed  to  "king."  All  peaceable  Christians 
(Romanists  and  Episcopalians  were  counted  otherwise)  were 
to  be  tolerated.  After  long  debate,  Cromwell  accepted  the 
amended  constitution,  excepting  the  title  of  king,  a  name 
which  exactly  fitted  his  power  but  was  distasteful  to  the  army 
and  the  republicans.  On  June  26,  1657,  he  renewed  his  oath 
as  Protector  with  royal  splendor  in  Westminster  Hall.  No 
crown  was  visible,  but  the  republicans  were  shocked  by  the 
ceremony,  the  robe  of  purple  velvet,  the  gilded  Bible,  and 
the  scepter  of  massy  gold. 


I'm:  Commonwealth  am>   mi.  Restoration. 

The  Parliament  re-assembled  in  January,  1658,  the  excluded 
members  being  allowed  t->  take  their  Beats,  and  the  new 
House  of  Lords  now  Bitting  for  the  lirst  time.  The  l'm- 
tector  nominated  the  members  of  the  Upper  House,  sixty- 
three  in  all.  Only  six  peers  of  the  old  Stuart  days  sat  among 
them.  The  others  were  eminent  commoners,  major-generals 
of  the  New  Model,  lawyers,  and  judges.  This  Parliamenl 
wasted  its  time  in  profitless  contentions,  and  barely  two 
weeks  of  it  exhausted  the  Protector's  patience.  On  Feb- 
ruary 1,  1658,  lie  called  the  members  together  for  a  final 
address.  He  t<>l<l  them  thai  at  their  own  desire  he  had 
accepted  the  chief  magistracy.  "  I  can  say  in  the  presence  of 
God,"  he  declared,  "I  would  have  been  glad  to  have  lived 
under  my  woodside,  to  have  kepi  a  flock  of  sheep,  ratlin-  than 
undertaken  such  a  government.  But,  undertaking  it,  I  <li<l 
look  thai  you,  who  offered  it  imt<>  me,  should  make  it  i^t >< kI." 
He  charged  them  with  alienating  the  army,  with  aiding  tin- 
foreign  enemy,  the  king  of  Scots  and  bis  Spanish  allies,  and 
with  preventing  thai  oft-soughl  settlement.  "  And,"  he  wenl 
•  in,  "if  thi>  l>r  the  end  of  your  Bitting,  Teh  dissolvi  this  Par- 
liament, and  lei  o."l  be  judge  between  you  and  me!" 

These  words  closed   the  lasl    recorded   speech  of   Oliver 
CromwelL     His  health  was  wasted  with  the  intensity  of  the 
iin  which  had  been  upon  him  for  fifteen  years.     His  dear- 
daughter,  Elizabeth,  died  early  in  August,  1658,  and  the 

loss    weakened     her    lather    surely.       Two    weeks    later,    the 

Quaker,  G<  Fox,  notes  in  his  j  mrnal  thai    he  mel  the 

Protector  riding  in  Hampton  Park,  and  "saw  a  wafl  of 
death  l">  forth"  from  him.  The  nexl  day  he  was  wvy  ill. 
On  Angusl  24  the  doctors  had  him  removed  from  the  palace 
Hampton  Court  to  the  late  Charles  Stuart's  royal  dwelling 
Whitehall.  The  n.-w  3 of  i he  approaching  calamity  brought 
Puritan  England  to  its  knees  and  -  nt  up  a  cloud  of  prayer 
for  hi^  recovery.  On  his  death-bed  he  talked  much  of  re- 
ligion, spent  much  time  iii  prayer.     <>u  his  " fortunate  day," 


240  An"  Outline  History  of  England. 

September  3,  165S,  the  day  of  Dunbar  and  the  "crowning 
mercy"  of  Worcester,  the  great  Puritan  soldier  and  states- 
man was  dead. 

In  his  last  illness  Oliver  had  named  Richard,  his  eldest 
son,  as  his  successor  ;  and  the  new  Protector  was  peace- 
fully inaugurated.  But  Richard  Cromwell  was  in  no  sense 
the  equal  of  his  father.  Worldly  and  easy-going,  having  no 
important  share  in  the  wars  and  contentions  of  his  genera- 
tion, he  had  no  hold  upon  the  Puritans  or  the  army.  The 
army  leaders  immediately  quarreled  with  his  first  Parliament, 
compelled  the  Protector  to  dissolve  it  almost  immediately, 
and  then  to  resign  his  own  office,  April,  1659.  The  constitu- 
tion was  overturned,  and  the  military  power,  itself  absolved 
of  wise  direction,  sought  to  rule  the  State.  The  officers  re- 
stored (May)  the  "  Rump  "  of  the  Long  Parliament  which 
Cromwell  had  turned  out.  They  found  it  as  jealous  of  its  au- 
thority as  ever,  and  in  October  they  forcibly  dissolved  its  ses- 
sions. The  soldiers  themselves  now  turned  against  their 
commanders,  and  of  their  own  accord  summoned  the  much- 
buffeted  remnant  of  the  Long  Parliament  back  to  Westmin- 
ster in  December,  1659. 

While  the  army  in  London  was  disgusting  all  conservative 
citizens  by  its  revolutions,  the  army  in  Scotland  was  working 
toward  another  end.  The  commander  there  was  General  Monk, 
an  excellent  Cromwellian  officer,  but  a  man  devoid  of.the  strong 
enthusiasms  which  swayed  most  men  of  that  period.  Willi 
substantial  support  from  the  Scots  he  entered  England,  Jan- 
uary 1,  1660,  and  a  month  later  reached  the  capital.  On 
February  26,  the  Presbyterinns,  who  had  been  purged  out  of 
Parliament  by  Colonel  Pride,  were  with  his  sanction  re-admit- 
ted to  their  places  ;  and  on  March  16,  the  Rump,  now  re- 
stored to  some  semblance  of  the  Parliament  of  1640,  finally 
decreed  its  own  dissolution.  Monk  was  in  communication 
with  Charles.  On  April  25,  a  new  and  free  Parliament, 
called  the  "  Convention,"  assembled,  and  at  once  entertained 


Tin.  Commonwealth  and  thb  Rbstobation.      241 

measures  looking  toward  the  recall  of  the  Stuarts.  On  the 
14th,  Charles  in  the  Netherlands  had  issued  his  Decla- 
ration of  Breda,  offering  pardon  to  his  English  enemies,  se- 
curity of  property,  and  tolerance  for  peaceable  religious 
The  Convention  enthusiastically  restored  the  ancient 
constitution  of  king,  Lords,  and  ('ominous,  and  urged  Charles 
Stuart  to  accept  his  father's  crown.  On  the  twenty-fifth  of 
M  y  that  prince,  with  a  crowd  of  exiled  royalists,  landed  at 
Dover,  and  his  entrance  to  London  was  hailed  with  shouts  of 
joy.  The  New  Model  drawn  up  at  Blackheath  gave  a  cold 
welcome  to  the  son  of  Charles  I.;  but  now  that  their  work 
was  don.-,  and,  to  all  appearance,  undone,  they  dispersed  to 
their  hom<  s.  The  Commonwealth  was  at  an  end,  and  En- 
gland was  again  an  hereditary  monarchy. 

Charles  II.,  B0n  of  Charles  I.  and  the  French  princess  Hen- 
rietta .Maria,  was  thirty  years  of  age  in  the  restoration  year, 
1660.  Tin-  enthusiastic  loyalty  -which  hailed  his  return  to 
1.  gland  overlooked  his  eleven  years  of  exile,  and  reckoning 
his  accession  from  the  execution  of  his  father  (1649),  counted 
the  year  1660  the  twelfth,  instead  of  the  first,  year  of  his  son. 
Charh  -  II.  was  a  Stuart  of  a  new  type,  witty — "  He  never 
i  a  foolish  thing,"  Baid  Lord  Rochester— and  profligate — 
"and    never  did  a  wise  on.-"  ran  the  >aiiie   taunting   rhyme. 

He  was  handsome,  courteous,  gay,  f I  of  pleasure  in  every 

form,  but   be  used  bis  courtly  graces   to  corrupt  virtue,  his 
became    frivolity,   and   his   love   of  pleasure   lured 
him  into  reckless  licentiousness.     His  palace  was  a  foul  nest 
of  intrigue  and  flaunting  vice.      Tin'  men  and  women   of  the 
court  vied  with  their  sovereign  in  brazen  defiance  <»f  the  b  >- 
briety  and  moral  order  of  the  Puritan  regime.      If  the  king 
bad  any   religion  In-  kept  it   to  himself  until  the  day  of  his 
death,   but    his    mother    was  a   Catholic  princess,    and   his 
brother  James,  Duke  of  York,  who  now   became    lord   ad- 
miral of  the  fleet,  was  of  the  same  faith.    It  was,  then,  a  cynic 
ptio  whom  the  Convention    Parliament   installed  in 
11 


242  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

the  chair  of  Oliver.  For  the  divine  right  for  which  his  grand- 
father argued  and  his  father  died,  the  new  king  cared  noth- 
ing. He  was  willful,  and  greedy  of  power,  hut  he  had  seen 
enough  of  the  spirit  of  England  and  suffered  enough  already 
upon  that  point  ;  he  would  press  his  own  policy  to  the  ut- 
most, hut  when  he  found  the  nation  irrevocahly  opposed  to 
him,  he  was  able  to  revise  his  plans  and  save  himself  from 
open  conflict.  After  the  perils  of  Worcester,  and  the  dreary 
sojourn  in  France  and  Holland,  the  king  was  determined  to 
keep  his  throne  at  all  sacrifices;  in  his  own  cai-eless  phrase,  he 
was  fully  "  resolved  to  go  no  more  on  his  travels." 

The  thorough-going  loyalty  of  England  in  the  first  years 
of  the  reign  relieved  the  king  from  the  necessity  of  fullrill- 
ing  all  of  the  promises  of  the  Declaration  of  Breda.  The 
Convention  Parliament  which  General  Monk  had  called  sat 
through  the  year  1660,  and  transacted  much  business.  By 
an  Act  of  Indemnity  and  Oblivion  the  officers  and  soldiers  of 
the  Commonwealth  were  freely  pardoned,  except  certain 
commissioners  who  had  condemned  Charles  I.  to  death. 
Thirteen  of  these  "regicides"  or  king-killers,  were  executed, 
others  were  imprisoned  for  life,  while  a  few  escaped  to  New 
England.  The  lands  of  royalists  which  had  been  confiscated 
were  left  in  the  hands  of  their  new  proprietors.  The  illegal 
taxes  of  the  Stuart  despotism — ship-money,  monopolies,  impo- 
sitions, and  the  like — were  not  revived.  The  crown  gave  up 
most  of  its  remaining  feudal  rights  for  an  annuity.  A  per- 
manent revenue  was  provided  by  a  grant  of  £1,200,000 
a  year  for  life.  The  courts  of  Star  Chamber  and  High 
Commission,  detested  instruments  of  tyranny  in  Church  and 
State,  were  left  in  the  oblivion  to  which  the  Long  Parlia- 
ment had  consigned  them.  The  chief  officers  of  the  royal 
government — now  beginning  to  be  called  the  cabinet — 
represented  several  parties.  Edward  Hyde,  the  friend  of 
Charles  I.,  was  from  1000  to  1607  the  chief  adviser  of  his 
son.     As  earl  of  Clarendon  and  chancellor,  he  endeavored 


Tun  Commonwealth  and  the  R  ltion. 

to  restore  the  governmenl  as  nearly  as  possible  to  the  old  form 
of  constitutional  monarchy.  Scotland  and  Ireland  ceased 
to  send  representatives  to  the  English  Parliament,  and  the 
union  of  the  three  kingdoms  was  undone  (1660),  although 
the  king's  authority  was  supreme  in  all.  A  Scottish  Parlia- 
ment annulled  all  the  acts  <>f  the  Presbyterian  governmenl 
siiicr  L632,  broke  np  the  ohurch  organization,  and  re-estab- 
lished the  rule  of  bishops.  Bishops  were  restored  in  I  eland 
also,  and  an  attempt  was  made  to  deprive  the  Cromwellian  col- 
onists of  their  royalist  lands.  It  was  only  partially  success- 
ful, but  the  resistance  of  Covenanter  in  Scotland  and  Crom- 
wellian in  Ireland  enabled  the  king  to  support  military 
forces  in  those  countries  which  might  be  of  service  in  such 
an  emersrencv  as  had  arisen  in  1642.  Prom  his  personal  reve- 
nue  Charles  supported  a  few  thousand  picked  troops  as  the 
nucleus  of  a  royal  army. 

The  Convention  was  dissolved  in  December,  1GG0.     It  had 
been  in  the  Presbyterian  interest,  had  brought  back  the  king, 

and  commenced  a  peaceful  settlement   of  the  nation.      Before 

separation,  however,  this  Parliament  disgraced  itself  by 
ordering  the  bodies  of  Cromwell,  [reton,  and  Bradshaw  to 
be  disinterred  and  gibbeted  at  Tyburn.  From  the  Parlia- 
ment elected  in  l  «*»«"»  l  no  royalist  was  excluded,  and  the  Com- 
mons' [louse  was  tilled  with  yonng  cavaliers  exultant  at  the 

rthrow  of  Puritan  rule  and  the  restoration  of  a  king. 
This  "t  avatter  Parliament11  was  as  strong  for  the  Episcopal 
Church  a-  for  the  Stuart  king,  and  page  on  page  of  the  stat- 
ute-hook- was  idled  witli  its   enactments  concerning  the  iv- 

■  u  of  England*    The  members  shewed  their  intentions  at 
tin-  outset  by  taking  the  communion  in   Episcopalian  form, 
and  ordering  the  Solemn  League  and   Covenant   to  he  pub- 
licly burned  by  the  common  hangman. 
'!"•.  eiipple  the  Presbyterian  influence  where  it  was  strong- 

-in  the  town  corporations  Clarendon  secured  the  assent 
of  the  new   Parliament   to  a  series  of  laws.     A  Corporation 


244  An  Outline  IIistohy  of  England. 

Act  restricted  town  officers  to  persons  who  should  receive  the 
Anglican  communion,  renounce  the  Covenant,  and  declare 
that  it  was  unlawful  to  make  armed  resistance  to  the  king. 
Then  came  the  Act  of  Uniformity,  making  the  use  of  the  old 
prayer-book  compulsory  in  all  churches  ;  requiring  all  min- 
isters to  assent  to  its  doctrines,  and  reserving  to  the  bishops 
(now  restored  to  their  sees)  the  sole  right  of  ordaining  clergy. 
The  enforcement  of  this  law  in  August,  1662,  drove  nearly 
two  thousand  of  the  ablest  ministers  in  England — Presby- 
terian, Independent,  Baptist,  and  other  non-conformists — from 
their  pulpits,  among  them  Richard  Baxter,  the  gifted  author 
of  Sainfs  Pest.  In  1664,  these  non-conformists,  or  dissenters, 
as  they  came  to  be  called,  were  further  persecuted  by  a 
Conventicle  Act,  forbidding,  under  the  most  severe  penalties, 
gatherings  of  more  than  five  persons  for  any  religious  serv- 
ice not  contained  in  the  prayer-book.  In  1665  the  Five  Mile 
Act  added  to  the  miseries  of  the  non-conforming  clergy. 
They  were  asked  to  take  oath  that  they  would  "  endeavor  no 
alteration  of  Church  or  State;"  those  who  refused  the  oath 
were  forbidden  to  go  within  five  miles  of  any  town  or  place 
in  which  they  had  formerly  held  services,  ebohnjiuiiyjin^ 
tinker  and  Baptist  exhorter,  was  sent  to  jail  in  1060 
and  kept  there  twelve  years  for  preaching  to  an  unlicensed 
congregation.  He  wrote  the  Pilgrim's  Progress — the  most 
popular  English  book  except  the  Bible — in  those  years  of 
confinement,  -rkrhn  Milton,  who  had  grown  up  among  the 
Puritans,  and  had  held  a  minor  position  in  Cromwell's  gov- 
ernment, spent  these  years  in  retirement,  writing  the  epic  of 
Puritanism,  the  Paradise  Lost.  The  theaters,  which  the  Long 
Parliament  had  closed  because  of  their  scandalous  plays, 
were  re-opened  with  anew  form  of  drama,  in  which  the  prof- 
ligate life  of  the  court  and  nobles  was  blazoned  to  the  world. 
Poetry,  which  Milton  had  raised  to  heights  sublime,  was  de- 
based and  polluted  by  the  verse-makers  of  corrupt  society. 
The  earl  of  Clarendon  directed  the  government  through 


Tm:  Commonwealth  and  the  Restoration.      245 

these  years  devoted  to  church  reform  and  the  establishment 
of  the  constitutional  monarchy.  The  Catholic  party,  grow- 
ing in  Btrength  with  the  king,  and  the  Presbyterian  party, 
gathering  power  in  the  Commons,  opposed  the  rail  vainly 
in  the  internal  affairs  of  kingd<  in.  hut  with  ultimate  Buccess 
i'.  his  foreign  policy.  The  king,  careless  of  public  duty 
though  he  seemed,  had  a  definite  foreign  policy  which  he 
veiled  in  secrecy,  but  never  long  forsook.  His  aim  was  to 
re-establish  the  Roman  Catholic  Church  in  England,,  So 
shrewdly  were  hi-  designs  concealed  that  the  nation  was 
panic-stricken  when  the  discovery  was  finally  made.  That 
was  not  early.      For  ten  years   the   secret   was  kept  inviolate. 

The  championship  of  the  Catholic  religion  and  of  absolute 
power  in    Europe  had  passed  from  Spain  to  France.     The 

tesmanship  of  Richelieu  and  Mazarin  had  given  the 
French  monarchy  unprecedented  power,  wealth,  and  military 
strength,  and  the  young  king  Louis  XIV.  was  able  and  eager 
t"  extend  hi-  sovereignty  over  Europe.  Charles  and  the 
ambitious  Louis  were  cousins,  and  readily  came  to  an  under- 
standing. In  return  for  material  aid  to  Louis  on  tin'  Conti- 
nent Charles  was  to  receive  French  support  in  setting  up  the 

authority  of  the  pope.      The  firsl  sign  of   the  project  was  the 

marriage  of  King  Charles  with  tin-  Portuguese  princess 
•  tharine  of  Braganza  (1662),  a  Catholic  and  a  friend  of 
France.  At  the  same  time  Charles  sold  the  town  of  Dunkirk, 
Cromwell's  conquest,  to  Louis  for  6400,000.  The  popular 
indignation  which  greeted  these  acts  prevented  further 
progress  ("f  a  t  ime. 

From  L665  t<>  1667  England  ami  Holland,  rivals  for  the 
carrying  trade  of  Europe  and  the  naval  supremacy  of  the 
Channel,  were  again  at  war.    Monk,  now  Lord  Albemarle, and 

1 'rii  ice  Rupert,  as  bold  on  the  sea  as  in  t  he  sac  Idle,  < imanded 

tie-  English  fleets  in  a  series  of  noted  battles  with  the  Dutch 

admirals  De  Witt  and  I><'  Fiuyter.     The  English  bad  taken 

Amsterdam  in  America  from  the  Dutch  in  1664,  and  when 


248  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

the  war  closed  that  colony  remained  English,  under  the  name 
of  New  York.  The  loss  and  gain  of  territory  were  slight,  but 
the  national  pride  of  Englishmen  was  sorely  wounded,  for  the 
government  so  wasted  the  money  intended  for  the  fleet  that 
repairs  were  impossible.  The  Hollanders  entered  the  Thames 
unhindered,  sailed  within  twenty  miles  of  London,  and 
burned  docks  and  shipping.  Men  sighed  for  the  good  old 
times  of  the  Protectorate,  and  told  how  Oliver  had  made 
foreign  nations  tremble.  In  July,  1667,  the  Avar,  in  which 
France  had  taken  an  insignificant  part,  was  closed  by  the 
treaty  of  Breda. 

In  the  midst  of  the  Dutch  war  London  passed  through 
two  memorable  calamities.  In  April,  1665,  the  popu- 
lous city,  poorly  paved,  closely  built,  and  ill-drained,  was 
swept  by  a  plague  like  the  Black  Death  of  the  fourteenth 
century.  It  is  said  that  one  hundred  thousand  citizens  died 
of  the  disease  within  six  months.  Close  upon  its  heels  came 
a  second  catastrophe.  On  September  2,  1666,  a  fire  broke 
out  in  the  city,  and  burned  unchecked  for  three  days,  con- 
suming thirteen  hundred  buildings.  Among  them  was  the 
great  church  of  St.  Paul,  afterward  rebuilt  on  the  plans  of 
Sir  Christopher  Wren.  "The  Monument "  marks  the  spot 
near  which  the  conflagration  started.  The  Plague,  the  Fire, 
and  the  naval  victories  of  York,  Rupert,  and  Monk  over  the 
Dutch  are  celebrated  by  the  poet  Dryden  in  his  Annus 
Mirabilis  (Year  Wonderful). 

The  disgrace  of  the  Dutch  war,  and  the  discomfort  of  the 
people  under  the  persecution  of  dissenters,  heightened  the 
opposition  to  Clarendon's  administration.  Charles  was  rest- 
ive under  the  constitutional  curb  which  the  earl  had  put 
upon  him,  and  hailed  with  delight  an  opportunity  to  discard 
the  minister.  In  August,  1667,  he  was  dismissed  from  office. 
Seven  years  later  he  died  an  exile  in  France.  The  cabinet 
which  followed  is  known  as  the  "  Cabal,"  from  the  coinci- 
dence between  that  term  and  the  word  formed  by  the  initial 


Tub  Commonwealth  and  the  Rsstobatk  jit 

letters  of  the  ministers'  names,  C-lifford,  A-rlington,  Bucking- 
ham, A-shley,  L-auderdale.  The  tirst  important  act  of  the 
Cabal  placed  its  members  in  sympathy  with  the  nation. 
Their  envoy,  Sir  William  Temple,  negotiated  with  Holland 
and  Sweden  the"Triple  Alliance"  (January  13,  IG68),  the 
three  Protestant  powers  binding  themselves  i<>  block  Louis 
XIV.  in  hi<  designs  against  the  Spanish  possessions.  The  king 
had  no  sympathy  with  this  acl  of  his  ministers,  but  was  him- 
Belf  carrying  on  in  secret  a  friendly  correspondence  with 
Louis.  In  1670  he  Bigned  the  Becret  "treaty  of  Dover." 
I  arles  and  hi^  brother,  York,  agreed  to  profess  the  Catholic 
faith  at  the  proper  moment,  :m>l  meanwhile  to  join  with 
France  in  an  attack  on  Holland.  Louis  was  to  pay  his  royal 
allv  £200,000  a  year  during  the  war. 

t  irles  confided  the  terms  of  his  engagement  with 
I  lis  tO  only  tWO  of  his  ministers,  Clifford  and  Arli 
ton,  both  Catholics  at  heart.  The  rest  of  the  Cabal  went  on 
in  ignorance  of  the  king's  perfidy.  By  a  Declaration  of  In- 
dulgence for  dissenters  the  sovereign  won  their  consent  to 
tie'  war  with  Holland  (1G7-J-HJ74).  France  immediately 
hurst  into  the  Low  Countries,  and  commenced  a  career  of 
conquest  which  promised  the  utter  extinction  of  the  Dutch 
Republic,  while  the  English  fleet  engaged  the  Dutch  admi- 
rals in  the  Channel.  A  n  volution  in  the  Netherlands  raised 
William  of  Orange  to  the  stadtholdership,  and  breathed  a 
new  spirit  of  resistance  against  the  French.  Ashley  (Anthony 
Ashley  Cooper)  was  made  earl  of  Shaftesbury  and  lord 
chancellor  (November,  L672),  and  became  chief  minister 
'■;  the  king.  He  was  an  old  statesman  of  Cromwell's  time,  a 
leader  of  the  Presbyterian  part),  and  an  unscrupulous  politi- 
cian. As  yet  the  Becret  of  Dover  treaty  was  undivulged, 
in  l » ; t - ;  it  was  noticed  with  distrust  that  the  king'n  gen- 
nd  admirals  were  Catholics,  and  that  the  soldiers  of 
P  I  ngland  were  being  employed  to  fight  the  battles 

<»f  the  French  <  Catholic  king.     Even  tin   Dei  laration  of  I  mini- 


248  An  Outline  IIistoey  of  England. 

gence  was  suspected  as  a  mask  for  Catholic  toleration, 
and  had  to  he  revoked.  Parliament  had  a  deep  horror  of 
Catholic  supremacy,  and  now  passed  a  Test  Act  prescribing' 
that  all  persons  holding  office  must  take  oaths  to  which  no 
Romanist  could  subscribe.  Colors  had  to  be  shown.  The 
Catholic  James,  Duke  of  York  and  heir  to  the  throne, 
resigned  the  command  of  the  fleet.  Clifford  quitted  the 
Cabal,  which  fell  to  pieces,  and  a  new  ministry  was  organized 
upon  its  ruins.  Shaftesbury  was  deprived  of  office  by  the 
king  himself;  but  in  his  place  in  the  House  of  Lords  he  ex- 
erted his  great  abilities  to  compass  the  confusion  of  the  king's 
plans  by  securing  a  Protestant  successor  to  the  throne. 

Sir  Thomas  Osborne,  Earl  of  Danbv,  was  the  leading  min- 
ister  of  the  crown  from  1673  to  the  beginning  of  1679,  and 
his  sincere  desire  to  increase  English  influence  among  the 
Protestant  States  of  Europe  was  again  foiled  by  the  trickery 
of  his  master.  Danby  brought  about  the  marriage  of  York's 
Protestant  daughter  Mary  with  William  of  Orange  (1677), 
hoping  thus  to  provide  a  Protestant  heir,  as  well  as  to  bind 
together  Holland  and  England  (their  war  had  closed  in  1674) 
against  the  rapacity  of  Louis  XIV.  But  Louis  again  took 
Charles  into  his  pay,  and  while  the  English  Parliament 
threatened  France  and  voted  supplies  for  an  army  the  English 
king  sold  his  country's  honor  for  a  pension.  The  peace  of 
Nimeguen,  1678,  removed  the  prospect  of  war. 

The  discovery  of  an  alleged  conspiracy  of  Catholics  to  kill 
Charles  and  massacre  Protestants  terrified  the  nation,  in 
September,  1678.  A  worthless  renegade,  Titus  Oates,  gave  in- 
formation— now  believed  to  have  been  perjured,  but  then  re- 
ceived as  conclusive — which  led  to  the  arrest,  imprisonment, 
and  execution  of  many  innocent  persons.  Shaftesbury  seized 
upon  the  popular  panic  over  the  "Popish  Plot  "  to  push 
forward  his  project  of  securing  a  Protestant  successor  for 
Charles.  All  Catholics  were  excluded  from  membership  in 
Parliament.      Danby's  connection  with   the   king's   French 


THB    COMMONWEALTH    AND    THE    RESTORATION.         249 

intrigues  was  discovered  and  he  was  deposed,  Shaftesbury 
again  came  to  power  and  the  "  Long  Parliament  of  the 
K.  storation  "  (1661-1679)  was  finally  dissolved. 

The  Parliament  of  L679  had  been  in  session  but  a  few 
months  when  the  king  dissolved  it  in  order  to  thwart  its 
evident  purpose  t<>  exclude  James,  Duke  of  York,  from  the 
succession.  Yet  its  brief  existence  is  notable  for  the  passage 
of  the  Act  of  Habeas  Corpus,  confirming  one  of  the  most 
precious  rights  of  the  English  Bubject.  By  this  law  judges 
were  obliged  to  grant  the  writ  of  habeas  corpus — summon- 
ing a  jailer  to  produce  hi>  prisoner  in  court  and  declare  the 
reason  of  his  confinement.  It  put  a  stop  to  illegal  imprison- 
ment and  Becured  speedy  justice  to  the  accused. 

The  question  of  the  succession  was  forced  to  the  front  by 
the  increasing  age  of  Charles  and  theabsenceof  a  legitimate 
vi i.  His  Catholic  brother  James  was  next  of  kin  and  James's 
daughters,  .Mary,  Princess  of  Orange,  and  Anne,  were  Prot- 
estants both.  Around  these  the  court  party  formed  itself. 
Shaftesbury  selected  the  Protestanl  duke  of  Monmouth  as  Ids 
candidate  for  the  succession.  Monmouth  was  a  gay  and 
courtly  prince,  th<'  i  Idest  of  several  bastard  bous  of  Charles. 
II  -  father  had  given  him  command  of  the  army  against  the 
persecuted  Covenanters  of  Scotland,  but  afterward  com- 
pelled him  to  go  away  from  England  as  Fork  had  gone. 
Shaftesbury  was  again  put  out  of  office,  but  he  redoubled  his 
exertion-  in  favor  of  Monmouth.  The  fierce  partystrife 
which  followed  gave  the  nunc  of  Tory  to  the  party  which 
battled  for  the  rights  of  .lane-  and  his  family,  and  Whig 
to  the  partisans  of  the  Protestant  duke.  The  Exclusion 
Bill  unfitted  Parliament  for  any  other  business,  and  three 
times  the  king  dissolved  the  Houses  to  prevent  its  passage. 
Shaftesbury  was  arrested,  bul  made  his  way  to  Holland,  where 
he  died  in  1688,  leaving  the  nation  to  accomplish  by  revolu- 
tion the  exclusion  for  which  he  had  fought. 

1  four  vears  (1681-1686)  Charles  was  free  from  discord- 
11* 


250  An  Outline  Histoky  of  England. 

ant  Parliaments.  The  pension  of  Louis  XIV.  supplied  his 
ordinary  financial  necessities,  and  no  Avar  arose  to  swell 
his  expenses.  The  Whig  and  Tory  contest  was  fought 
out  unremittingly.  James  was  recalled  to  favor  at  court, 
and  Monmouth  was  arrested  (1G82).  In  1683,  the  Whigs, 
having  no  longer  the  arm  of  Parliament  to  wield,  resorted 
to  force.  Monmouth  and  others  were  implicated,  unjustly, 
it  is  thought,  in  the  Rye  House  Plot,  a  plan  to  murder  the 
king  and  his  brother  at  the  Rye  House  on  the  Newmarket 
road.  Its  disclosure  confounded  the  Whigs.  Monmouth 
fled  to  Holland,  others  were  executed.  To  exterminate  the 
shattered  party  whose  strength  was  in  the  towns,  the  old 
Presbyterian  strongholds,  Charles  deprived  borough  corpora- 
tions of  their  charters.  The  new  charters  gave  the  crown  con- 
trol of  the  boroughs,  and  so  insured  the  election  of  royalist 
members  in  case  another  Parliament  should  be  held. 

Death  interrupted  the  plans  of  the  new  despotism  (Feb- 
ruary 6,  1685),  and  in  the  supreme  moment  the  wicked  life 
of  the  pleasure-loving  monarch.  Prayers  were  offered  for 
the  dying  voluptuary  as  they  had  been  offered  for  the  dying 
Puritan  Cromwell.  Deceiver  to  the  last,  he  never  owned  his 
belief,  though  a  priest  of  Rome  was  privately  admitted  to 
his  room  a  few  hours  before  his  death.  One  of  his  mistresses, 
and  all  but  one  of  his  illegitimate  offspring,  watched  about 
his  bed,  heard  the  last  sally  of  his  wit — an  apology  for  being 
such  a  long  time  dying.  Some  ears  caught  his  latest  whisper, 
concerning  another  of  his  favorites,  Nell  Gwyn  the  actress, 
"  Do  not  let  poor  Nelly  starve  !  " 


Tin-  English  Revolution.  '251 


CHAPTER  XIV. 

THE  ENGLISH  REVOLUTION.     1685  A.  D.-1714  A.  D. 
ill    THK    ACCESSION    (if   JAMES    II.  TO   THE    DEATH  OF   QUBBN    ANNE. 

A  i  the  death  of  Charles  II.  his  brother,  the  duke  of  York, 
ime  king  of  England  and  Scotland  Feb.   l < ; s .5 .     James 
II.  was  past  fifty  and  had  been  in  publio  life  for  a  score  of 
years.      A>   lord    high    admiral    he    had    been   an  efficient 
though  not  a  particularly  brilliant  officer  until  the  Test  Act 
ompelled    him  to  confess    his    conversion   to   the 
1     tholic  faith,     lie  then  resigned  and  Boon  left   the   king- 
dom,   returning,    however,     before    his     brother's    death. 
Although    a    bigoted    Catholic  in    his   later    years,  .lames 
had  early  married  Lord  Clarendon's  daughter  Anne  Hyde, 
and  their  two  children,  Mary  and   Anne,  were  firmly    Prot- 
:it.     Both  ladies  had   Protestanl  husbands.     The  beauti- 
ful and  gentle  Mary  married  the  far-sighted  and  able  William 

<>  .  governor  (or  stadtholder)  of  the   Dutch   Repub- 

lic,  and    Anne,    indolent    and    good-natured    herself,    was 
mated   with  the   insignificant    Prince  George  of    Denmark. 

Mary    of  Modena,    the  king's  b< ad  wife,  was  u  Catholic 

and  had  as  yel  borne  him  no  children. 

The  apprehension  which  pervaded  England  at  the  thought 
of  a  Catholic  Bovereign  was  allayed  by  Beveral  considera- 
tions. James  Bwore  to  maintain  the  Church  of  England  un- 
changed. The  Church  had  Btood  by  his  father  and  had  gen- 
erally 1 n  found  loyal.     The  nation  believed  thai  the  king 

would  keep  hia  word.     Even  if  be   proved  faithless,  his  suc- 

,  the  Prol     tan l  Mary,  would  set  all  things  right.     But 

James  was  do  more  trustworthy  than  hi.s  brother  had  be<  nj 


252  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

he  broke  the  promises  of  his  coronation  oath,  reversing  the 
laws,  refusing  to  consult  with  Parliament,  accepting  a  secret 
subsidy  from  Louis  XIV.,  and  striving  by  the  roughest  tyr- 
anny to  establish  the  Catholic  religion  and  his  own  absolute 
authority.  After  four  years  of  his  cruel  despotism  his  sub- 
jects deserted  him,  and,  by  the  revolution  of  1688,  drove  him 
from  the  throne. 

The  year  16S5  was  eventful.  The  Scottish  Parliament 
met  in  April,  and  passed  a  barbarous  law  against  those  who 
attended  any  other  than  the  Episcopal  Church.  Death  and 
forfeiture  of  property  was  the  penalty  for  preaching  in 
a  private  room  or  of  attending  an  open-air  meeting  or  con- 
venticle. To  take  the  solemn  oath  of  the  Covenant  was 
treason.  The  Covenanters  were  persecuted  with  merciless 
zeal  by  Graham  of  Claverhouse,  a  colonel  of  dragoons,  soon 
named  the  "  Bloody  Claverhouse."  The  English  Parliament 
met  in  May.  The  recent  changes  in  the  borough  charters 
gave  the  court  party,  the  Tories,  control  of  the  House  of 
Commons.  They  did  as  the  king  pleased,  granting  him  ample 
revenues,  and  confirming  his  title  to  the  throne  by  new  laws 
for  the  punishment  of  treason. 

The  party  struggles,  revolutions,  and  conspiracies  of  the 
past  few  years  had  sent  many  Englishmen  and  Scots  into 
enforced  or  voluntary  exile.  Among  these  were  the  Scottish 
earl  of  Argyle,  and  the  English  duke  of  Monmouth.  Argyle 
was  the  son  of  the  great  marquis  who  had  lent  the  aid  of 
Scotland  to  the  English  Parliament  against  Charles  I.,  and 
Monmouth  was  that  illegitimate  son  of  Charles  II.  in  whose 
favor  Shaftesbury  had  endeavored  to  exclude  the  duke  of 
York  from  the  succession.  The  banished  men  gathered  a 
few  followers  in  Holland.  In  May  Argyle  landed  in  the 
west  of  Scotland  and  summoned  to  his  aid  his  clansmen, 
the  Campbells,  and  all  others  who  wished  to  overthrow  the 
prosecuting  Parliament  and  abolish  the  episcopacy.  Only 
Clan  Campbell  rallied  to  their  chief,  and  they  were  soon  dis- 


Tin:    K\',i  [SB    Rl  70L1  tion. 

persi  d.  Argyle  was  taken  and  executed  June  30,  1685.  Mon- 
mouth's expedition   had  the   same  end.      The  duke  landed    in 

1  >.  »i--tt  with  eighty  men.     lie  issued  a  braggart  proclamation 

charging  .lames  II.  with  tyranny,  papistry,  conspiracy,  and 
tin-  murder  of  Charles  II.  Monmouth  asserted  that  Charles 
was  his  lawful  father,  and  that  he,  and  nut  James,  should 
wear  the  crown.  But  the  Whig  nobles  who  had  once  upheld 
the  " Protestant  Duke  "  were  for  giving  James  a  trial.  West 
of  England  miners,  artisans,  and  pea-ants  t<>  the  number  oi 
-i\  thousand  joined  Monmouth,  hut  the  lord-  and  gentry  held 

aloof.  On  duly  t'»,  1685,  the  royal  army  scattered  the  peas- 
ant force  in  the  Battle  of  Sedgemoor — the  last  battle  fought 
in  England.  Monmouth  tried  to  escape,  but  was  captured 
and  beheaded  eight  days  later.  Colonel  Kirke's  fierce  sol- 
diery, called  "  Kirke's  Lambs,"  from  the  figure  of  a  lamb 
which  graced  their  banner,  had  killed  in  cold  blood  all  the 
fugitives  whom  they  could  find  after  the  light,  but  their 
atrocities  did  not  slake  the  king's  thirst  for  revenge.  He 
sent  the  mosl  brutal  of  his  judges,  the  drunken  Chief -Justice 
Jeffreys,  to  try  the  cases  of  the  rebels.  This  court,  called 
"the  bloody  assize,"  condemned  three  hundred  persons  to 
execution, and  three  times  a-  many  were  sold  into  slavery. 

The  cruelty  with  which  the  rebellions  had  been  crushed  had 
it-  effect  when  Parliament  assembled  for  its  autumnal  Bession. 
It  waa  noticed,  moreover,  that   the  king  leaned  more  upon  the 

nsels  "f  bis  father  confessor,  the  Jesuit  Petre,  and  other 
Romanists  than  upon  his  ministers  of  state.  News  came  also 
that  Louis  XIV.,  the  king's  friend  and  model,  had  revoked 
th.-  Edict  of  Nantes,  by  which  Henry  of  Navarre  t  L598)  had 
granted  tolerance  to  the  French  Protestants.  More  than  fifty 
thousand  Huguenot  families  emigrated  in  consequence  of  the 

r<  vocation,  many  settling  in  Holland,  many re  in  England 

and  America,    English  Protestants  took  warning.    Parliament 

inted  the  king  funds  for  the  rapport  of  a  standing  army, 
but  •  d  his  demand  for  repeal  of  the  Test  Act,  which  pre- 


254  Ax  Outline  History  ok  England. 

vented  him  from  giving  office  to  Catholics.  James  adjourned 
the  sitting  on  November  27,  and  did  not  again  assemble  the 
two  Houses. 

With  the  army  at  his  back,  and  a  corps  of  subservient 
judges  to  decide  upon  the  legality  of  his  course,  the  king  felt 
able  to  dispense  with  Parliaments.  It  had  long  been  con- 
sidered lawful  for  the  sovereign  to  dispense  with  the  action 
of  laws  to  a  certain  slight  degree,  and  James  now  pushed  this 
prerogative  to  its  utmost.  In  1086  he  dispensed  with  the  Test 
Act,  giving  office  to  a  papist.  The  courts  decided  that  the 
appointment  was  valid.  The  English  clergy  took  alarm  at 
the  extension  of  Catholic  influence.  The  king  attended  mass 
himself  and  treated  the  Romanists  with  distinction.  Pulpits 
which  denounced  Catholic  doctrines  were  to  be  disciplined, 
and  a  new  court  of  ecclesiastical  commission,  of  which 
Jeffreys  was  one,  was  set  up  to  enforce  the  submission  of  the 
English  Church.  In  1G87  papists  were  placed  in  the  university 
faculties.  Monasteries  and  Jesuit  schools  were  opened  in 
London,  and  were  largely  attended. 

Making  use  of  his  confirmed  authority  to  dispense  with  the 
laws  the  king  raised  Petre  and  several  Catholic  peers  to  his 
council,  following  this  with  a  wholesale  dispensation — the 
"  Declaration  of  Liberty  of  Conscience,"  granting  indulgence 
to  all  sects,  Protestant  and  Catholic,  in  England  and  Scotland- 
issued  in  April,  1687.  Just  a  year  later  this  declaration  was 
repealed.  The  Protestant  clergy  refused  to  read  the  declara- 
tion. Archbishop  Sancroft,  and  Bishops  Ken,  Lake,  Lloyd, 
Turner,  Trelawney,  and  White — "the  seven  bishops" — 
petitioned  the  king  not  to  insist  upon  obedience  to  his  illegal 
order.  They  were  imprisoned  in  the  tower  for  uttering  a 
"  false,  malicious,  and  seditious  libel." 

Before  the  day  of  the  bishops'  trial  the  nation  was  startled 
by  the  news  that  the  queen  had  borne  a  son  (June  JO,  1688). 
The  birth  of  a  prince  meant  disinheritance  to  the  princesses 
Mary  and  Anne,  upon  whom  the  Protestant  hopes  were  fixed. 


'I'm.  English  Revolt  i  ion. 

It  was  immediately  asserted  that  the  queen  was  not  the  mother 
of  the  boy — James  Francis  Edward  Smart,  as  he  was 
christened — but  thai  it  was  a  supposititious  child  procured  to 
trick  the  nation  of  its  rightful  ruler.  In  the  mi-lst  of  the 
popular  uproar  the  seven  bishops  were  acquitted,  June  30, 
1688.  London  ran  wild  with  delight,  and  even  the  royal 
troops  stationed  at  Hounslow  to  o>  ersm  e  the  city  cheered  the 
verdict  in  tin-  very  face  of  the  kin?. 

All  parties  were,  in  fact,  deserting  the  despot.  The  Whigs 
had  longjooked  upon  James's  son-in-law,  William  of  Orange, 
as  tin-  king's  successor,  and  now  the  Church  of  England  and 
the  Tories  turned  to  the  Bame  deliverer.  On  the  day  of  the 
bishops1  acquittal  Admiral  Herbert  bore  to  Holland  a  Becret 
invitation  to  William  to  save  England  from  her  ruler.  Seven 
representative  signatures  were  affixed  to  this  famous  document: 
'•Tin-  Whig  carl  of  Devonshire,  tin-  Tory  carl  of  Danby, 
the  earl  of  Shrewsbury,  Bishop  Compton,  of  London;  the 
republican  Henry  Sidney,  Lord  Lumley,  of  the  army,  and 
Edward    Russell,   of   the   navy."      These    "seven    eminent 

* 

persons,"  or  "seven  patriots,"  told  the  Dutch  stadtholder  that 
if  he  would  come  over  with  an  army  he  would  be  welcomed 
by  the  nation  a^  a  deliverer. 

William  of  Orange   was  then  thirty-eighl    years  of   age: 

physically  weak,  but  a  g I  soldier  and  wise  statesman.     To 

circumscribe  the  ambition  of  Louis  XIV.  l>y  forming  a 
European  league  was  the  object  of  his  careful  diplomacy,  and 
it  was  aj>art  of  his  plan  to  add  England  to  the  league.  As 
the  husband  of  the  Prina  sa  Mary  he  had  a  righl  to  expect  at 
li  a-t  to  Bhare  the  English  throne  at  her  father's  death.  The 
birth  of  the  prince  .lames  Edward  destroyed  this  expectation 
and  opened  the  w  a v  to  another.  The  invitation  of  the  seven 
patriots^confirmed  the  Dutch  ruler's  purpose  to  interfere  in 
English  affairs.  In  October  he  issued  a  declaration  to  the 
people  of  England  Betting  forth  their  grievances,  civil  and 
nous,  and  ig  doubt  upon  the  genuineness  of   the 


256  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

new-born  prince.  By  request  of  eminent  persons  he  had  de- 
cided to  come  to  England  with  an  army,  not  for  conquest,  but 
to  secure  the  assembling  of  a  Parliament  in  which  the  people 
might  redress  their  own  wrongs.  On  the  1st  of  November, 
1GS8,  the  Dutch  fleet,  with  the  king  and  fourteen  thousand 
troops,  set  sail,  landing  on  the  5th — Guy  Fawkes  day — at 
Torbay,  in  the  west  of  England. 

Too  late  James  discovered  what  he  had  lost.  In  October 
lie  had  made  a  supreme  endeavor  to  regain  the  support  of  the 
Church  and  the  Tories  bv  abolishing  his  court  of  ecclesiastical 
commission,  by  proving  the  birth  of  his  son,  and  by  promising 
to  call  a  Parliament.  Then  he  called  the  officers  of  his  army 
together  and  received  their  oaths  of  loyalty.  Meanwhile  the 
country  was  rising  to  welcome  William.  The  towns  of  the 
north  deserted  the  king,  and  the  gentry  of  the  west  flocked 
to  the  army  of  invasion.  William  kept  his  men  strictly  in 
hand.  Plunder  and  outrage  were  forbidden,  and  the  nation 
was  impressed  with  the  truth  of  the  commander's  assertion 
that  he  came  as  a  friend.  There  was  little  work  for  troops. 
John  Churchill  and  his  fellow  generals,  who  had  sworn  to 
die  for  their  king,  deserted  to  William.  Kirke  led  his  regi- 
ment of  "  lambs "  into  the  Dutch  fold.  Even  the  Princess 
Anne,  influenced  by  her  friend  Sarah  Jennings,  Churchill's 
wife,  deserted  her  father's  waning  cause.  "  God  help  me," 
said  the  saddened  king,  "  my  own  children  forsake  me." 
Having  sent  the  queen  and  his  infant  son  to  France  (Decem- 
ber 1 0),  he  tried  to  make  his  own  escape,  but  was  taken  and 
sent  back  to  London.  But  William,  who  had  now  led  his 
forces  to  the  capital,  wished  to  avoid  Cromwell's  task  of 
dealing  with  a  captive  king,  and  no  tears  were  shed  when 
James  eluded  his  guards  and  fled  across  the  Channel  (Decem- 
ber 22,  1088).  Louis  XIV.  "received  him  with  favor  in 
France,  granted  him  the  royal  residence  of  St.  Germains  and 
a  munificent  revenue  to  support  a  royal  court. 

In  January,  1689,  after  a  few  weeks  of  a  provisional  gov- 


Tin:  English  Revolution. 

ernment,  William  assembled  a  "Convention  Parliament," 
in  accordance  with  the  advice  of  his  English  friends.  The 
Commons  forthwith  voted,  and  the  Lords  agreed,  that  James 
l>y  misgovernmenl  had  forfeited  his  right  to  the  throne,  and 
"  that  it  hath  been  found  inconsistent  with  the  safet  y  and  wel- 
fan'  of  this  Protestant  kingdom  to  be  governed  by  a  popish 
prince."  After  Borne  negotiations  tin.1  crown  was  offered  to 
William  and  Mary  jointly,  February  13,  L 689,  and  accepted 
by  them.  At  tin- same  time  Parliament  presented  a  Declara- 
tion of  Rights,*  intended  as  a  fresh  definition  and  limitation 
of  the  royal  authority.  Nearly  every  right  therein  asserted 
had  been  transgressed  by  the  Stuart  kings. 

King  William,  for  he  exercised  the  chief  power  although 
his  wife  held  equal  rank,  made  up  his  cabinet  of  advisers 
impartially  from  the  Whig  and  Tory  lords.  In  .March,  1689, 
Parliament  and  clergy  took  the  oaths  of  allegiance  to  A\' i 1 1  - 
iam  ami  Mary.  A  few  refused  to  swear,  and  two  years  later 
six  l>idio]p>  and  several  hundred  rectors  were  deprived  of 
their  livings  a--  "  non-jurors. "' 

This  first  Parliament  of  the  joint  reign  enacted  a  number 
of  law-  of  the  greatest  interest  and  importance.  A  new  sys- 
tem of  finance  was  needed.  A  new  law  now  made  it  neces- 
sary for  the  exchequer  to  present  to  Parliament  each  year  an 
itemized  estimate  of  the  expense  of  administration  for  the 

•This  document  declared:  1.  That  it  is  illegal  fur  the  king  t<>  make  laws 
ml  their  action  without  consent  <>f  Parliament.     2.  That  the  king 
i.ot  grant  dispensations  from  the  laws.     ;;.  That  the  Court  of  I 

mi  and  i  .  •  it  are  unlawful.     I.  That  tin-  king  may 

■  ii- v  without  the  consent  of  Parliament.  5.  Thai  it  ia  luwful  to 
petition  the  sovereign.  8.  That  no  standing  army  may  be  maintained  with- 
out the  consent  <>f  Parliament.     7.  Tli  it    private  persona  maj 

•  parliamentary  deb 
lo.    'I'h. a  ul   shall  in".  mauded  from  an 

11.  Thai  every  trial   shall  be  by  jury.     \,i.  That  granta 
the   oonvic'iou  of  the 
13.  Thai  .  he  IkI.i 


258  An  Outline  History  op  England. 

year  to  come.  To  meet  these  expenses  the  Houses  appro- 
priated sums  of  money.  In  this  way  the  control  of  the  na- 
tional expenditure  was  confided  to  the  representatives  of  the 
people.  Another  law,  the  Mutiny  Act,  settled  the  dan- 
gerous question  of  the  support  of  the  standing  army.  The 
royal  officers  were  given  power  for  one  year  to  enforce  dis- 
cipline. As  this  act  is  renewed  annually,  and  the  money  for 
the  pay  of  the  troops  is  appropriated  annually,  it  is  neces- 
sary for  the  king  to  assemble  Parliament  at  least  once  a  year. 
The  Declaration  of  Rights  which  the  convention  had  issued 
became  a  statute  law  known  as  the  Bill  of  Rights.  It  further 
confirmed  the  title  of  William  and  Mary,  and  declared  that 
no  papist  should  ever  reign  in  England. 

The  merely  personal  union  of  England  and  Scotland  was 
dissolved  by  the  deposition  of  James  II.;  but  a  majority  of 
the  Scots  preferred  William  to  a  Stuart  king,  and  in  March, 
16S9,  offered  the  crown  of  Scotland  to  the  joint  sovereigns 
of  England.  William  accepted  for  himself  and  his  queen, 
and  they  were  proclaimed  in  Edinburgh  in  April.  The  Pres- 
byterian  Kirk  was  re-established,  and  in  many  places  the 
Covenanters,  exasperated  by  long  oppression,  expelled  with 
insult  and  abuse  the  clergy  of  the  older  Church.  Graham 
of  Claverhouse,  the  hated  trooper,  now  Viscount  Dundee,  took 
refuge  in  the  Highlands,  and  gathered  the  mountain  clans  in 
the  name  of  King  James.  But  Dundee  fell  in  the  pass  of 
Killiecrankie,  July  17,  1689,  and  the  Highland  forces  were 
dispersed.  Sir  John  Dalrymple  of  Stair  was  made  William's 
representative  in  the  northern  kingdom. 

The  pacification  of  the  north  was  accomplished  in  1091. 
William  offered  pardon  to  all  chiefs  who  should  disarm  and 
take  the  oath  of  allegiance  before  January  1,  1092.  All  sub- 
mitted except  the  small  Clan  Macdonald,  dwelling  in  the 
valley  of  Glencoe.  The  Macdonalds  did  not  yield  until  six 
days  later,  and  Dalrymple  had  meanwhile  gained  William's 
signature  to  an  order  "  to   extirpate  that  sept   of  thieves." 


The  English  Revoli  nox.  2    • 

Soldiers  were  immediately  Btationed  in  the  glen,  and  on 
February  13,1602,  executed  the  fatal  order.  Forty  unarmed 
men  were  slain,  and  women  and  children  were  driven  out 
into  the  snow  to  perish.  This  was  the  famous  Massacre  of 
Glenc< 

The  jiuciticat  hm  of  Ireland  was  a  more  difficult  task.  It 
had  been  the  policy  of  James  II.  i>>  build  u\>  in  thai  island 
a  power  upon  which  he  might  rely  if  driven  from  England. 
Richard  Talbot,  Ear]  of  Tyrconnel,  was  his  representative 
there.  He  was  a  Catholic,  of  Norman-Irish  descent,  and  an 
unscrupulous  adventurer.  He  purged  the  [rish  military  and 
civil  service  of  Protestants,  and  raised  and  drilled  a  large 
army  devoted  to  James  and  the  Roman  Catholic  Chinch. 
I Ia\  ing  completed  these  preparations  the  carl  offered  liis  sup- 
port to  the  fugitive  king. 

Tyrconnel's  invitation  to  come  to  Ireland  reached  King 
James  in  his  retreat  at  St.  Germain's.  Louis  XIV.  of  France 
approved  of  the  project,  and  nave  him  arms  and  treas- 
ure. In  March,  Lti  B,  James  joined  Tyrconnel.  The  panic- 
stricken  Irish  Protestants  crowded  into  the  poorly  defended 
towns  of  Londonderry  and  Fnniskillen,  and,  though  beset  by 
James  with  overwhelming  numbers,  held  oul  for  months. 
Their  sufferings  were  terrible  and  their  conduct  heroic. 
Walker,  a  Protestant  minister,  inspired  the  garrison  of 
Londonderry  to  keep  their  "  no-surrender"  flag  flying  until 
help  came.  Famine  and  fever  came  first,  but  when  only  two 
•lay-*  rations  remained  a  merchanl  vessel  from  the  English 
fleel  broke  the  boom  across  the  River  Foyle,  and  relieved  the 
Bufferen      -1   tn<  j's  French  lieutenant  raised  the  A.u  just 

],  1680.  On  the  Bame  day  the  Knniskilleners  put  their  Irish 
besiegers  to  flight  at  Newtown  Butler. 

In  1690  King  William  himself  came  over  to  [reland  to 
try  conclusions  with  .lame-.  Schomberg,  William's  gener- 
al, had  a  large  army,  composed  of  Englishmen  and  Ulster- 
men,   who   wore   the   orange  colors   of   the  Dutch  king  of 


200  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

England.  The  army  of  James  was  inferior  in  numbers.  On 
July  1,  1690,  the  two  armies  met  in  the  Battle  of  theBoyne. 
William,  though  slightly  wounded,  fought  at  the  head  of  his 
men.  James  watched  the  combat  from  a  distance,  and  when 
the  broken  lines  of  the  Frenchmen  lied  after  the  flying  Irish 
the  discouraged  king  spurred  his  horse  toward  Dublin, 
whence  he  took  shin  for  France.  William  returned  to  England 
to  conduct  the  war  which  France  had  now  declared  aerainst  him. 
His  generals  in  Ireland  were  opposed  by  the  brave  and  be- 
loved Patrick  Sarsfield.  In  1091  even  Sarsfield  had  to  yield. 
But  by  the  treaty  of  Limerick  he  secured  the  privilege  for  his 
soldiers  to  enter  the  French  service.  Ten  thousand  Irish 
exiles  thereby  passed  into  the  armies  of  France. 

William's  continental  policy  brought  on  the  French  war. 
His  aim  was  to  check  the  ambition  of  France,  which  under 
Louis  XIV.  was  the  most  formidable  State  in  Europe.  In 
1086  he  had  formed  the  League  of  Augsburg,  which  had 
held  Louis's  hands  in  Germany  while  the  Dutch  fleet  was 
bearing  the  stadtholder  to  England.  In  16S9  William  added 
Holland  and  England  to  the  Augsburg  combination,  forming 
the  "Grand  Alliance."  The  German  emperor,  the' king  of 
Spain,  and  the  duke  of  Savoy  agreed  with  William  to  curb 
the  power  of  Louis  and  strip  him  of  his  conquests. 

After  two  years  of  indecisive  fighting  on  land  and  sea,  in 
1692  Louis  gathered  the  full  military  strength  of  his  king- 
dom to  shake  oft'  his  assailants.  One  army  was  told  off  for 
the  invasion  of  England,  while  100,000  Frenchmen  faced 
William  in  the  Netherlands.  England's  peril  encouraged 
James,  and  he  called  upon  his  loyal  English  to  welcome  the 
French.      But  the  invaders  never  crossed  the  Channel ; 

"  On  the  sea  and  at  the  Hogue,  sixteen  hundred  ninety-two, 
Did  the  English  fight  the  French — woe  to  France!  " 

and  Lord  Russell  so  shattered  Admiral  Tourville's  fleet  that 
the  plan  of  invasion  had  to  be  abandoned.     The  land  cam- 


Tin.  English  Revolution.  261 

paign  in  the  Netherlands  was  indecisive.  England  was 
raved  for  the  time  being,  but  the  object  of  the  Alii. me.'  was 
not  attained. 

In  fact  the  greatesl  of  English  generals  was  in  disgrace. 
John  Churchill,  <»r  Marlborough,  a>  he  may  now  be  known, 
chafed  under  restraint.  His  treachery  to  James  had  not 
been  rewarded  so  richly  as  his  judgment  demanded,  and  from 
William,  who  was  inclined  to  favor  his  Dutch  commanders 
at  theexpense  of  the  English,  the  unscrupulous  genius  turned 
again  to  James.  But  the  correspondence  was  discovered  and 
in  January,  L629,  Churchill  was  stripped  of  bis  offices.  With- 
out him  the  English  armies  were  unsuccessful. 

Parliament  had  made  itself  essential  to  the  government, 
and  during  this  reign  and  all  succeeding  it  was  assembled 
w Till  ivulaiitv.  The  legislation  of  the  reign  added  enor- 
mously  t.>  the  safeguards  upon  English  liberty.  The  griev- 
ances which  hail  been  tin-  burden  of  tin-  Stuart  Parliaments 
were  redressed  by  process  of  law  under  the  equable  and  just 
rule  of  William.  In  his  second  Parliament  (1690  l  •'>'.>■"> )  tin- 
Tories  were  in  the  majority.  Their  favor  inclined  toward 
the  Stuart  party.  The  allowances  of  money  to  the  king 
were  cul  down,  and  the  former  supporters  of  James  II.  were 
pardoned  by  an  Acl  of  Grace.  William's  plan  of  choosing 
his  ministers  from  the  leaders  of  the  two  parties  had  created 
discord,  ami  iii  1693,  on  the  advice  of  Lord  Sunderland,  our  of 
aitorous  counselors,  the  king  formed  a  new  cab- 
inet, selecting  all  the  members  from  the  Whigs,  In  this 
Whig  "junto"  were  Somers,  the  jurist,  and  Montague,  the 
financier. 

Tin-  latter  minister  carried  oul  several  important  proji 
In  1692-1693  the  treasury  had  failed  to  make  both  ends 
meet,  and  a  large  deficit  resulted.  Montague  and  Parliament 
in.  i  the  difficulty  by  the  experiim  nt,  new  to  English  finance, 
ol  borrowing  money  on  interest.  A  loan  of  61,000,000  was 
I   at   LO  per  cent.     This  was  the  beginning  of  the 


202  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

English  national  debt.  At  the  next  session  (1693-1694)  the 
deficit  recurred,  and  a  company  of  London  merchants  helped 
the  exchequer  to  meet  its  obligations  by  a  loan  of  £1,200,000. 
The  subscribers  to  the  loan  were  granted  certain  privileges 
which  they  have  since  retained  as  the  "  Governor  and  Com- 
pany of  the  Bank  of  England."  The  shrewd  mind  of  Will- 
iam Paterson,  a  Scot,  first  suggested  to  Montague  the  plan  of 
this  bank,  which  now,  "  the  old  lady  of  Threadneedle  Street," 
is  the  world's  strongest  banking  institution. 

The  Triennial  Act  of  1694  made  it  obligatory  for  the  king 
to  order  a  general  election  for  members  of  Parliament  at  least 
once  in  three  years.  This  period  was  later  extended  to  seven 
years  by  a  law  still  in  force.  The  Long  Parliament  of 
Charles  I.  had  gagged  the  press  by  an  act  requiring  all  prints 
to  be  licensed.  Milton's  free  spirit  had  protested  against 
this  restriction  upon  writing,  but  the  law  was  enforced  with 
some  degree  of  strictness  until  1695,  when  it  lapsed,  and  Par- 
liament declined  to  renew  it.  Newspapers  sprang  up  as  soon 
as  the  old  law  perished. 

The  gentle  Queen  Mary,  still  young,  beautiful,  and  devot- 
ed, fell  a  victim  to  the  small-|>ox  Dec.  28,  1694,  and  her 
impassive  husband  confessed  with  tears  that  he  was  now 
"  the  miserablest  of  earth's  creatures." 

The  war  in  the  Spanish  Netherlands  dragged  heavily.  In 
1693  William  lost  the  battle  of  Neerwinden;  in  1695  he  re- 
took Namur.  Erancc  was  distressed  by  the  constant  drain 
of  men  and  money,  and  in  1697  (Sept.  20)  Louis  consented  to 
the  compromise  Peace  of  Ryswick,  by  which  he  recognized 
the  sovereignty  of  William  in  England  and  the  right  of  the 
Princess  Anne  to  succeed  him. 

At  the  dawn  of  peace  the  English  Parliament  awoke  to 
the  feeling  that  England  had  been  used  to  forward  the  in- 
terests of  Holland.  Measures  were  undertaken  which  re- 
buked the  policy  of  the  king.  The  army  was  reduced,  and 
the   Dutch   troops  sent  home.      The  grants   of  Irish  lands 


Tin:  Rnglisb  Revolt]  i  ion. 

which  William  had  made  to  his  countrymen  were  annulled. 
All  these  annoyances  showed  William  that  the  English  peo- 
.  who  had  welcomed  his  aid  to  stamp  out  the  Stuart  tyr- 
anny, were  dissatisfied  with  the  rule  of  a  foreigner.  But 
toward  the  close  of  his  life  an  event  toot  place  which  Bhowed 
tin-  English  how  vitally  they  were  concerned  with  the  affairs 
of  Europe,  and  how  wise  had  been  the  rule  of  their  Dutch 
master. 

The  question  of  "the  Spanish  succession"*  had  perplexed 
the  courts  of  western  Europe  for  a  generation,  The  royal 
family  of  Spain  was  dying  out.  Charles  II.  was  childless, 
and  it  was  his  right  to  dispose  of  his  immense  possessions  at 
his  death.  Bv  intermarriage  the  ruling  family  in  Spain  were 
related  to  the  ruling  families  of  both  Prance  and  the  German 
Empire.  That  the  Spanish  dominions  should  pass  entire, 
either  to  Louis  XIV.  or  to  the  Emperor  Leopold  I.,  was  un- 
bearable to  the  other  European  states,  among  whose  stal 
men  the  modern  theory  of  preserving  peace  by  maintaining 
" balance  of  power "  was  now  taking  form.  To  disarm 
opposition,  therefore,  Louis  and  Leopold  renounced  their 
own  claims  to  the  inheritance,  the  one  asking  that  his  sec- 
ond son,  the  Archduke  Charles,  be  made  heir,  the  other 
claiming  the  crown  for  his  second  grandson,  Philip  of  Anjou. 

•CLAIMANTS    TO    THE    SPANISH    SUCCESSION. 

run. if  in.  ol  S| 

r  i  i 

Anna,  Mar  b  Anna, 

ui.  L/iutoXiii.  of  f!..  Philip  IT.  of  Spain,  m  Ferdinand* 

il.mi  • 
I  i 

Louis  xiv.  ■  if  i  Charles  II.  of  8paln,  Margaret  Theresa    Leopold, 

I  In    >  il.  ' .  Ein|  i-iiu. 

i.  uls(daupl  Maximilian    Maria  Antoinette. 

Elector  ul  Bavaria, 
on  I 

/'/n/i/i.  eh.  Charles, 

DCKKOI    IN'JO  "THK  ELECTORAL  PRINCR,"    "nil    \l;i  II  Dl  KK" 

Ijom  Cnai  proi  rni  |>arllilon    l"i  whom  England, 

rn,  for  whom  the  ity  for  kli  un,      Holland,  and  the 

i  '  mil  fought,  ami  n  I  but  died 

..ii.  Aftei  ;     |i  ror 

I'liiiipv.  Cbai  .111. 


264  An  Outlixe  History  of  England. 

Joseph,  electoral  prince  of  Bavaria,  a  grandson  of  Leopold 
and  a  kinsman  of  Charles  II.,  was  a  third  claimant. 

The  powers  of  Europe  undertook  to  settle  the  succession 
themselves,  and  while  they  were  planning  to  divide  the  Span- 
ish possessions  the  king  suddenly  died  (November,  1700),  and 
made  Philip  of  Anjou  his  sole  heir. 

Louis  XIV.  saw  his  wildest  dreams  of  dominion  about  to 
be  realized.  France  and  Spain  were  practically  united. 
"  The  Pyrenees  exist  no  longer,"  said  the  exultant  Louis  to 
his  grandson,  as  he  set  out  for  his  royal  inheritance. 

The  impending  absorption  of  the  Spanish  monarchy  by  the 
ambition  of  Louis  frustrated  all  that  William  of  Orange  had 
given  his  life  to  secure.  But  the  Hollander's  spirit  was  un- 
conquerable, and  he  faced  the  new  danger  with  the  old  de- 
termination. The  recklessness  of  Louis  aided  his  enemies. 
At  the  bedside  of  the  exiled  James  II.  of  England,  who  lay 
dying  at  St.  Germains,  the  French  monarch  renewed  his  prom- 
ise  of  friendship,  and  recognized  his  son,  James.  Francis  Ed- 
ward Stuart  (known  as  the  "  Old  Pretender  "  ),  as  the  rightful 
king  of  England. 

The  news  that  France  had  again  espoused  the  Stuart  cause 
aroused  the  patriotism  of  England,  and  a  new  Parliament 
enthusiastically  supported  William  in  his  policy  of  war.  The 
occupation  of  the  Spanish  Netherlands  by  French  troops 
menaced  Holland  and  aroused  the  Dutch  Republic.  The 
emperor,  whose  grandson  had  been  slighted,  was  eager  for  re- 
venge. A  common  purpose  united  the  three  countries,  and 
under  William's  direction  the  "  Grand  Alliance  "  was  revived 
in  September,  1701,  to  place  the  archduke  on  the  Spanish 
throne,  to  expel  France  from  the  Netherlands  and  the  Indies, 
and  to  prevent  the  union  of  the  French  and  Spanish  crowns. 
Before  hostilities  opened  William  had  died,  March  8,  1702. 

Anne  Stuart,  younger  daughter  of  James  II.  and  Anne 
Hyde,  was  immediately  proclaimed  queen.  Her  husband, 
George  of  Denmark,  of  whom  his  uncle  Charles  II.  said  he 


Tin:  English   Revolution. 

had  "  tried  him  drink  and  sober  and  found  nothing/5  receh  ed 
no  Bhare  in  the  government.  Anne  came  to  tLc  throne  at  a 
fortunate  time  for  her  reputation.     Her   subjects  loved  the 

g l-natured,   Blow-minded,  matronly    Englishwoman,   and 

called  her  "good  Queen  Anne.*' 

Between  the  Princess  Anne  and.  Sarah  Jeanings,  a  lady  of 
the  court,  had  long  existed  the  closest  intimacy,  and  the 
brilliant  mind  of  the  latter  held  the  other  as  if  bewitched. 
Sarah  Jennings  had  married  John  Churchill,  Lord  Marl- 
borough, the  young  officer  who  had  betrayed  James  IT.  His 
ability  was  so  undoubted  that  the  dying  king  hail  no  better 

advice    for  Anne    than    thai    she   should    take    Marlborough's 

advice  in  the  < luct  of  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession, 

which  was  his  baleful  bequest. 

Anne  had  not  been  queen  a  week  before  the  earl  of  Marl- 
borough was  commander-in-chief  of  all  the  English  land  forces. 
Without  hesitation  he  opened  the  campaign  in  the  Spanish 
Netherlands  and  struck  Prance  a  smarting  blow  on  that  fron- 
tier. No  English  general  from  Edward  the  Black  Prince 
to   the   duke  of  Wellington    won  such  successes  from    the 

French  as  did  .John  Churchill  (made  duke  of  Marlborough  in 
reward  for  the  victories  of  1702)  in  the  next  ten  years  of  the 
war.      He  was    formed    hv  nature   to  win    the   regard  of   men. 

Singularly  beautiful  of  countenance,  of  tine  figure  and  grace- 
ful carriage,  his  outward  appearance  united  with  his  words 
and  action-    to  charm    all  with  whom   he  had  to  do.      He  was 

cool  in  the  moment  of  battle,  fearless  hut  not  courting 
danger,  careful  of  the  lives  of  his  men,  watchful  of  the 
sick  and  wounded,  and  merciful  to  hi-  prisoners  of  war. 
To  hi-  wife  he  wa<  attache,)  by  the  teiidere-t  affection, 
fearing  her  displeasure  more  than  the  French  cannon. 
ifet  •  -  greal  man'-  character  w.-rr-  disfigured  by  some  of 
the  meanest  of  human  failings.  He  was  unutterably  seltish. 
lie   won   victories   not    lor   England    nor   for  the  righteous 

Cause    in    which    he    fought,    but    lor    hi-    own    glory,      To    !><■ 
12 


206  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

the  greatest  and  richest  man  in  the  kingdom  was  the  summit 
of  his  ambition. 

Queen  Anne  accepted  Marlborough's  friend,  Lord  Godol- 
phin,  as  her  chief  minister,  and  he  ably  co-operated  with  the 
general  by  supplying  men  and  money  for  the  campaigns. 
The  United  Provinces  (Holland)  intrusted  their  forces  also 
to  the  English  leader.  The  commander  of  the  emperor's 
northern  army  was  a  dashing  soldier,  Prince  Eugene  of 
Savoy,  and  a  generous  and  hearty  friendship  soon  united  the 
two  generals.  In  1704  they  won  their  first  great  success. 
Louis  had  dispatched  an  army  eastward  through  friendly 
Bavaria  to  strike  Vienna,  the  capital  of  the  empire.  Marl- 
borough divined  the  purpose  of  the  maneuver  and,  regardless 
of  hampering  instructions,  he  led  his  army  into  Germany 
and,  joining  Eugene,  intercepted  the  French  and  Bavarian 
army  near  Blenheim  on  the  Danube,  August  13,  1704.  The 
duke's  personal  charge  at  the  head  of  eight  thousand  cavalry 
broke  the  weakened  center  of  the  foe,  and  decided  the  bat- 
tle. There  had  not  been  such  a  harvest  of  French  lilies  in 
the  sixty  years  of  Louis's  reign.  Two  thirds  of  the  king's 
troops  were  slain  or  taken  captive,  and  their  marshal  him- 
self was  among  the  eleven  thousand  prisoners.  England  re- 
warded Marlborough  with  the  royal  manor  of  Woodstock, 
and  built  the  palace  of  Blenheim  for  his  residence. 

Marlborough's  campaigns  were  all  in  the  north,  but  the 
allies  attacked  France  on  every  side.  A  few  weeks  before 
Blenheim  the  fortress  of  Gibraltar  had  surrendered  (July  24, 
1704)  to  an  English  fleet,  and  in  the  succeeding  year  Lord 
Peterborough,  a  profligate  genius,  captured  Barcelona. 

On  May  23,  1706,  Marlborough  with  sixty  thousand 
men  defeated  Marshal  Villeroy  at  Ramillies,  in  Brabant 
(Belgium),  so  thoroughly  that  all  French  strongholds  of  the 
Netherlands — Antwerp,  Brussels,  Ostend,  Ghent,  Bruges — 
yielded  with  scarcely  a  show  of  resistance. 

Disaster   marked    the    succeeding    years.     Disagi'eements 


Tin:  English  Ui  voi  i  i  n-\.  j < . 7 

between  inn  many  masters  kept  Marlborough  and  Eugene 
idle  for  a  time,  but  bo  1708  they  were  again  companions  in 
arms.  Together  thev  crushed  tin'  French  Army  of  the 
North  at  Oudenarde,  July  11,  1708,  and  together  besieged 
and  reduced  the  fortress  of  Lille. 

France  now  Bought  for  peace;  Louis  was  willing  to  aban- 
don all  lus  conquests,  but  to  one  humiliating  condition  he 
would  not  Btoop.  His  grandson  Philip,  the  accepted  sover- 
eign of  a  large  portion  of  Spain,  refused  to  yield  his  crown. 
and  Louis  indignantly  rejected  the  demand  of  the  allies  thai 
he  should  expel  him  with  French  troops.  "If  fight  I  must," 
said  the  hard-pressed  Louis,  "I  will  fight  my  enemies  rather 
than  my  own  children. "  Negotiations  tailed,  and  the  bank- 
rupt and  Btarving  French  nation  took  up  arms  with  new  zeal 
in  a  more  righteous  cause. 

Marlborough's  troops  felt  the  new  temper  of  the  metal  at 
Malplaquet  (September,  1709).  The  English  won,  but  with 
tremendous  loss.  "  God  grant  such  another  defeat,"  reported 
the  French  marshal  to  his  king,  "  and  your  majesty  could  count 
your  enemies  destroyed.'1  Ten  thousand  Frenchmen  were 
dead,  but  the  allies  had  lost  twenty  thousand.  This  was  the 
last  great  battle,  though  peace  was  not  declared  until  1713. 

While  the  "duke  of  Marlborough  and  our  good  Prince 
Eugene"  were  winning  greal  praises  on  continental  battle- 
fields, England  had  other  business  than  voting  supplies  and 
Bending  re-enforcements  across  the  Channel.  Part}  struggles 
— Whig  and  Tory — were  enliveningisland  politics  and  vexing 
the  Court.  Queen  Anne  was  natiiialh  a  Tory,  a  strong  Bup- 
porter  of  the  Established  Church,  and  opposed  to  the  war. 
though  the  power  of  Sarah  Churchill's  will  prolonged  her 
support  of  Marlborough. 

Immediately  after  Anne'-  ascension  the  Scotch  began  to 
cast  about  for  an  heir  to  their  throne.  They  had  accepted 
the  English  sovereigns  William  and  .Mary  and  Queen  Anne, 
but  they  did  not  fully  aec.pt   the  Act  of   Settlement  (lToij 


268  An  Outline  History  of  England, 

which  fixed  the  succession  in  the  line  of  Sophia  of  Hanover 
and  her  Protestant  descendants.  They  demanded  that  the 
wearer  of  the  Scottish  crown  should  guarantee  to  the  nation 
its  existing  religion,  and  freedom  of  trade.  Commissioners  of 
both  nations  met  in  London,  in  1706,  to  discuss  a  plan  of 
union;  they  were  remarkably  successful,  and  on  May  1,  1707, 
the  two  kingdoms — England  and  Scotland — became  the  one 
kingdom  of  Great  Britain,  with  a  common  sovereign  accord- 
ing to  the  Act  of  Settlement,  a  common  Parliament,  and  a 
common  coinage.  Scottish  law  and  the  Scottish  Church  re- 
mained unchanged.  The  "  Old  Pretender,"  James  Edward 
Stuart,  came  over  in  1708  to  profit  by  the  Scottish  dissatis- 
faction with  the  union,  but  the  Jacobites,  as  his  partisans  were 
called,  gave  him  no  support  and  he  went  back  unrequited. 

The  length  and  expense  of  the  war  told  upon  its  popular- 
ity. The  Whigs,  who  had  been  Churchill's  main  support  in 
England,  gradually  lost  power  and  influence.  The  queen 
drew  closer  to  the  Tory  leaders,  Robert  Harley  and  Henry 
St.  John. 

St.  John,  afterward  Viscount  Bolingbroke,  was  a  noted 
infidel,  a  writer  of  merit,  and  an  accomplished  statesman.  Har- 
ley was  of  ignoble  parts,  but  surpassed  in  "  back-stairs  poli- 
tics." To  cancel  Lady  Marlborough's  influence  with  the 
queen  he  pressed  his  cousin,  Abigail  Hill,  an  attendant  of  the 
palace,  upon  Anne's  favor.  The  ruse  was  successful.  The 
gentle  Abigail  (afterward  Lady  Masham)  gradually  sup- 
planted the  haughty  Sarah.  In  1710  Lord  Godolphin,  Marl- 
borough's friend  and  English  agent,  was  dismissed  from  the 
royal  council  with  all  his  Whig  colleagues,  and  in  1711  Har- 
ley took  Godolphin's  office  as  prime  minister  with  the  title 
earl  of  Oxford  and  Mortimer. 

Marlborough  came  back  to  London  to  stay  the  storm  if 
possible.  The  archduke  Charles,  for  whom  the  allies  had 
been  fighting,  had  unexpectedly  become  emperor  (1711),  and 
neither  England  nor  Holland  now  wished  to  add  Spain  to 


Tin     K\.,i  i-ii    ReVOXI   i  [OK.  269 

his  possessions.  So  the  war  languished;  indeed,  the  Tories 
were  secretly  treating  foj:  pease  with  King  Louis.  The 
duke's  hopes  were  bound  up  in  the  war,  but  a  personal  letter 
from  Anne  dashed  them  to  despair.  The  queen  dismissed 
him  from  all  his  offices  on  charge  of  embezzling  military 
Funds.     lie  denied  the  accusation  hut  left  the  kingdom. 

The  Tories  pressed  for  peace.  Possessing  a  majority  in 
the  Commons  they  Fretted  for  the  ujijier  House  until  the 
queen  created  twelve  new  Tory  peers — Abigail  Hill's  hus- 
band,  Mr.  Masham,  among  them.  With  Parliament  under 
close  rein  the  Tory  plan  was  carried  out.  The  Peace  of 
Utrecht,  which  closed  the  war  of  the  Spanish  succession,  was 
formally  signed  in  March,  1713.  Few  of  its  many  articles 
deserve  place  here.  Philip  of  Anjou,  the  grandson  of  Louis 
XIV.,  was  confirmed  as  King  Philip  V".  of  Spain,  whose 
throne  his  Bourbon  descendant,  Alfonso  XTII.,  still  occupies. 
France  renounced  its  support  of  the  Stuart  pretenders,  ami 
Formally  recognized  the  Protestanl  settlement  of  the  English 
succession.  Great  Britain  gained  Nova  Scotia,  Newfound- 
land, Gibraltar,  ami  a  \\w  less  important  territories. 

The  Protestanl  succession,  which  was  confirmed  so  many 
times  in  unions,  settlements,  and  treaties,  seems  to  have  stood 
in  some  slight  hazard  in  England  itself  as  the  time  of  its 

realization  drew  near.  Anne,  the  widowed  mother  of  Seven- 
ie.il  children,  hud  in  1711  survived  thcinall.  Her  apprehen- 
sions for  the  safety  of  the  Church  had  been  soothed  by  the 
law  of  1711  to  suppress  the  "occasional  conformity  "  by  w  hich 
dissenting  candidates  for  public  office  had  smothered  their 
consciences  For  a  day  and  taken  the  Episcopal  communion  :i- 
the  Test  and  Corporation  act-  required.  Three  years  later 
Bolingbroke's  harsher  "Schism  Act"  was  passed  with  the 
intention  of  disqualifying  dissenting  teachers.  But  the  queen's 
Budden  death  left  the  law  anprojclaimed  and  void. 

The  death  of  the  Electress  Sophia  left  her  son  George 
Louis  heir  to  the  English  throne,     lie  was  fifty-four  year-  old, 


270  An  Outline  History  op  England. 

was  nominally  a  Protestant,  but  could  speak  no  English,  and 
knew  little  and  cared  less  about  the  government  of  England. 
Many  Englishmen  shrank  from  calling  in  such  a  king.  The 
Jacobites,  ever  plotting,  hoped  to  bring  in  the  Pretender,  and 
they  were  encouraged  to  think  that  Lord  Bolingbroke  in  the 
cabinet  meant  to  effect  their  object.  Whether  this  was 
Bolingbroke's  purpose  or  not  must  remain  doubtful,  but  it  is 
certain  that  he  had  a  bitter  quarrel  with  Lord  Oxford  (Har- 
ley)  in  the  royal  presence  which  resulted  in  Oxford's  imme- 
diate dismissal.  The  excitement  gave  the  queen  a  stroke  of 
apoplexy.  And  while  the  court  and  London  were  in  an  up- 
roar, Whig  and  Tory  and  Jacobrte  contending,  Anne  gave 
the  badge  of  the  prime  minister's  office  to  the  duke  of 
Shrewsbury,  one  of  the  "  seven  patriots  "  who  had  signed  the 
invitation  to  William  in  1688.  His  selection  settled  the 
question  of  the  succession  in  favor  of  the  Protestant  House 
of  Brunswick.  Queen  Anne  breathed  her  last  August  1, 
1714,  and  George  the  First  was  quietly  proclaimed  king  of 
Great  Britain  and  Ireland. 


House  of  Hanover,  oh  Brunswick.  271 


CHAPTER  XV. 

HOUSE   OF  HANOVER,  OR  BRUNSWICK.  1714  A.  D.-1830  A.  D. 
KKOM   THE   ACCESSION   OF  GEORGE   I.   TO  Till-:   DEATH   OP  QEORQE  IV. 

Kini.  George  I.  was  born  in  Germany,  of  German  parents, 

in  the  year  <>f  the   Restoration    (1060),  and   although   lie   had 

traveled  far  ami  foughl  well  in  the  armies  of  the  empire  he 
had  ncvci-  set  foot  in  England  until  September  18, 1714,  when 
lit*  lain h«l  as  king  of  Greal  Britain  and  Ireland.  From  his 
father,  Ernest  Augustus,  George  hail  inherited  the  duchy  of 
Brunswick-Luneburg  and  the  electorate  of  Hanover.  The 
duchy  was  one  of  the  numerous  states  of  the  German  Empire, 
and  its  duke  was  also  electoral  prince  of  Hanover,  one  of  the 
princes  who  voted  at  the  election  of  the  emperor  ;  hence  the 
myal  family  of  England  is  known,  from  one  title  or  the  other, 
a- the  House  of  "  Hanover  "  or  of  "  Brunswick."  *  From  his 
mother,  the  Elect  ress  Sophia,  <  Seorge  inherited  \\  hate\  er  rights 

•  THE  HOUSE  OF  HANOVER,  OR  BRUNSWICK. 

JAMES  I. 


en  LBLES  i.  (.beheaded  1649).  Elizabeth, 

j in.  Frederick  v.,  Elector  Palatini-, 

I  ami  '•  wiiiti-r  kiiil'  nf  Bohemia." 

CHARLES  IL  Mary.  JAMES  II.  ! 

in.  William  II.        (deposed  168 
(•f  orai  Rupert.         (120  Sophia, 

I in  Ernes)  Augustus, 

Elector  "I  BaaoTer. 

WILLIAM  HI.    MART.   ANNE.  James  Er.  Edward 

— '       "Old  Pretender."  GEORGE  i. 

ProU  danttt.  ' 

GEORGE  II. 
i     tries  Edward,  Henrr, 

"  Young  PreU-nder,"    Cardinal  York.        | 

•I.  :.  I  ProtatantB. 


c<iti> 


272  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

he  had  to  the  English  throne.  The  Act  of  Settlement  (1701) 
declared  that,  Queen  Anne  dying  childless,  the  crown  should 
go  to  Sophia,  and  to  her  Protestant  descendants  after  her. 
Sophia,  it  need  scarcely  be  repeated,  was  a  sister  of  Rupert 
the  cavalier,  a  daughter  of  Elizabeth  of  Bohemia,  and  a  grand- 
daughter of  James  I.  of  England. 

George  had  hitherto  been  very  much  his  own  master  in 
his  little  Brunswick  duchy,  but  the  Parliament  had  built  up 
such  a  barrier  against  royal  authority  in  England  that  neither 
this  monarch  nor  his  son  and  successor  took  much  trouble  to 
get  through  it  or  climb  over  it.  Finding  that  the  English 
were  bent  upon  governing  themselves  by  means  of  Parliament 
and  royal  ministers  George  pr.udently  refused  to  interfere. 
So  he  made  up  a  cabinet  from  the  Whigs,  to  whom  he  owed 
a  debt  of  gratitude,  and  intrusted  the  government  to  them 
while  he  drew  his  allowances  from  the  treasury,  took  his 
pleasure  with  his  Brunswick  cronies,  and  managed  the  affairs 
of  the  home  duchy  to  the  best  of  his  very  commonplace 
ability. 

The  closing  events  of  Anne's  reign  gave  ground  for  the 
charge  that  the  Tory  leaders  had  plotted  to  betray  the  crown 
to  the  Pretender,  and  the.  national  aversion  to  the  Catholic 
Stuarts  gave  the  Whigs  a  long  lease  of  power.  Parliament 
impeached  Anne's  ministers  —  Bolingbroke,  Oxford,  and 
Ormond  (Marlborough's  successor) — and  quelled  the  Jacobite 
tumults  in  the  towns  by  passing  the  Riot  Act  (1715),  which 
made  it  felony  for  an  unlawful  assembly  not  to  disperse 
after  the  "  reading  of  the  riot  act "  by  a  magistrate. 

Bolingbroke  and  Ormond  escaped.  Oxford  went  to  the 
Tower,  but  the  riots  presaged  a  new  Stuart  rising.  The 
Scottish  earl  of  Mar,  then  a  Jacobite,  although  he  turned  his 
coat  more  than  once,  roused  the  Highlanders  to  renew  the 
fight  for  the  Pretender,  James  Edward.  Six  thousand  clans- 
men, wearing  the  white  cockade,  joined  him  ;  but  he  proved 
a    worthless    leader.      Delaying    until    his   enemy   Argyle 


House  ov  Hanovbb,  ob  Bbi  towick.  278 

gathered  a  royal  army,  lie  waa  beaten  at  Sheriffmuir.  In 
December  the  Pretender  arrived  in  Scotland  i<>  find  his  cause 
mismanaged  and  lost:  bo  he  betook  him  niml>lv  hack  to 
France  t<>  hide  his  time.  A  few  north  of  England  gentle- 
men  who  had  recklessly  Bhown  their  Jacobite  colors  being 
captured  in  arms  died  as  traitors — twenty-eight  of  them  in 
all.  In  1717,  1718,  and  1710  the  Pretender  and  his  friends 
made  other  fruitless  attempts  to  regain  the  crown,  but  from 
1715  to  174 "i  thi'  throne  was  not  seriously  imperiled. 

The  first  care  of  the  Whig  ministers  had  been  to  rid  them- 
selves of  the  Tory  leaders.  Their  next  work  was  to  perpetu- 
ate their  own  control.  The  Parliament  in  which  they  had  a 
majority  was  soon  t<»  expire  by  the  limitation  "(  the  Triennial 
Act.  Tin-  WhigS  were  SO  well  Miti-ticd  with  the  bird  in  the 
hand  that,  to  avoid  the  risks  of  a  general  election,  they  carried 
the  Septennial  Act;  from  that  time  till  this  Parliaments  have 
been  chosen  at  least  once  in  Beven  years.  (The  firsl  Parliament 
of  George  I.  sat,  with  adjournments,  from  1715  to  1722.)  The 
third    care    of   the   cabinet    was    to   undo  the  Tory  legislation 

against  dissenters;  the  repeal  (1718)  of  the  law  against  "oc- 
casional conformity "  and  the  Schism  Act  removed  the  bar- 
riers by  which  the  Tories  hail  striven  to  block  the  avenues  to 
education  and  the  public  Bervice  against  all  except  members 
of  the  ( 'hurch  of  England. 

England  was  settling  down  into  a  period  of  unruffled  pros- 
perity when,  in  1720, a  money-panic  -hook  the  kingdom  to  its 
center.  In  1 7 1  .'l  the  South  Sea  Company  was  formed  in  Lon- 
don to  trade  with  Spanish  America,  fondly  believed  to  lie  a 

mine   of   wealth.      The  idea    Caught    the    popular    fancy;    the 

ra'_re  for  speculation  pushed  the  price  of  shares  to  tenfold 
their  par  value.  In  1720  it  came  out  that  the  shares  were 
valueless.  The  "  South  Sea  Bubble  "  burst.  Spain  prohibited 
English  \'  to  trade  with  her  port-  in  America,  and  the 

other  privileges  of  the  company  were  of  -mall  account. 
Hundreds  of  families  were  ruined   by  the  fall  of  the  stock. 

11!* 


274  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

The  Whig  government  was  blamed,  and  it  became  necessary 
to  reconstruct  the  cabinet.  Robert  Walpole,  hitherto  a 
subordinate  minister,  became  prime  minister,  and  was  actual 
ruler  of  England  for  the  next  twenty-one  years,  1721-1742. 

That  Walpole  was  notoriously  bad  in  many  ways  is  very 
well  known,  but  to  his  immense  credit  be  it  said  that  for  a 
generation  he  kept  England  at  peace  while  Europe  was  broil- 
ing with  battles.  He  fostered  English  manufactures  and 
trade  with  zealous  and  judicious  care,  and  he  reduced  the 
national  debt  to  the  lowest  figure  it  has  ever  reached — on 
these  acts  his  reputation  as  a  statesman  rests  secure. 

For  the  remaining  years  of  the  reign  Walpole  had  little 
anxiety.  Parliament,  chosen  anew  in  1722,  was  submissively 
obedient;  there  were  not  enough  Tories  in  it  to  make  an 
opposition,  and  profuse  bribery  removed  obstacles  within  his 
own  party.  In  June,  1727,  George  I.  died  from  a  stroke 
of  apoplexy. 

George  Augustus  succeeded  his  father  as  King  George  II. 
of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland  and  elector  of  Hanover,  and 
followed  pretty  closely  his  father's  policy  of  letting  Walpole 
and  the  Whigs  govern  the  nation.  Through  the  energetic 
Queen  Caroline  the  prime  minister  obtained  the  sovereign's 
assent  to  his  plans.  But  it  is  more  difficult  to  manage  a 
nation  than  a  monarch,  and  a  party  long  continued  in  power 
divides  against  itself.  Walpole  gradually  excluded  the  more 
influential  Whigs  from  the  highest  offices,  and  gave  little  en- 
couragement to  new  aspirants  for  leadership  among  his  own 
supporters.  The  Tories  joined  with  these  discontented 
Whigs,  and  in  1733  defeated  the  premier's  project  for  an 
excise  tax.  They  followed  this  by  inciting  a  demand  for 
Avar  with  Spain.  The  merchants  were  anxious  to  secure  a 
share  in  the  Spanish- American  trade:  The  Tories  wanted 
any  thing  to  beat  Walpole.  In  1730  he  conceded  the  dec- 
laration of  Avar.  Then  they  accused  him  of  not  supporting 
the  armies  in  the  field.     In  1742  he  resigned,  and  took  his 


HOUSB    OF    ELkNOVBB,    OB    BRUNSWICK.  L'7"> 

Beat  in  the  Lords  as  Earl  of  Orford.     The  ministry  of  Pel- 
ham  (1748—1754)  succeeded  him. 

King  George's  supporl  of  Maria  Theresa,  in  her  straggle 
to  maintain  her  right  to  the  imperial  throne  of  Germany,  in- 
volved England  in  another  continental  war.  In  1744  France 
was  added  to  the  enemies  of  England.  These  gathering 
dangers  convinced  Charles  Edward  Stuart,  sou  of  James 
Francis  Edward,  that  the  opportunity  for  the  restoration  of 
the  Stuarts  had  arrived.  He  landed  in  Scotland  in  1745, 
proclaimed  his  father  in  Edinburgh  as  King  .lames  III.  of 
England  and  Janus  Y 1 1 1.  of  Scotland.  A  few  thousand 
loval  Highlanders  re-enforce. 1  his  armv,  ami  the  small  force 
which  opposed  him  at  Pie-ton  Pan-  (September,  1745)  was 
shattered  by  the  rush  of  the  mountaineer-.  The  Jacobite 
army,  doubled  ami  trebled  by  victory,  invaded  England.  In 
December  the  young  Pretender's  force-  were  at  Derby,  half- 
way on  the  road  to  London.  There  his  advance  was  stayed. 
Few  Englishmen  had  rallied  to  the  Stuart  flag;  hut  the 
troops  of  the  king  were  mustering  fast.  Alarmed  to  find  the 
country -o  cold  toward  him,  Charles  recrossed  the  border. 
After  another  bravely-won  battle  at  Falkirk,  in  .January, 
1746,    hi-     ranks    dwindled,  and     at     Cnlloden,    on    the    Kith 

of  April,  they  were  mercilessly  slaughtered  by  the  English 

soldiers  of  the  duke  of  Cumberland — "  Culloden  Cumber- 
land." 

The  prince  wandered  five  months  among  the  Scottish 
mountain-,  a-  Charles  I.  had  wandered  about  England  after 
Worcester,  escaping  in  the  autumn  of  17  in  t,>  France.     The 

treaty  of  Aixda-<  'hapelle  (1748),  which  ended  t  lie  war  be- 
tween France  and  England,  deprived  him  of  that  harborage. 
After  hi<  father'-  death,  in  1766,  he  lived  in  Italy,  a  con- 
firmed drunkard.     There  he  died,  childless,  in  17--. 

It  wa-  not  to  the  .redd  of  the  British  government  that  a 
rebel  army  of  a  few-  undisciplined  regiments  Bhould  march 
halt'  the  length  of  the  island  and  back  again  unopposed.  The 


276  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

administration  was  weak ;  Pelham  and  his  colleagues  lacked 
energy  ;  the  nation  distrusted  itself  and  feared  the  king,  who 
cared  more  for  continental  wars  than  for  England's  welfare. 

The  situation  was  alarming.  The  ministers  either  did  not 
foresee,  or  could  not  prevent,  the  alliance  of  the  French  and 
Spanish  Bourbon  kings,  and  the  doctrine  of  the  "  balance  of 
power "  was  left  defenseless.  In  India  the  French  under 
Dupleix  were  striving  to  supplant  the  British  East  India 
Company  by  ingratiating  themselves  with  the  native  princes. 
In  America  the  French,  firmly  posted  in  Canada  and  Louis- 
iana, laid  claim  to  the  region  drained  by  the  Ohio  and  Missis- 
sippi Rivers,  and  established  a  line  of  forts  to  hold  the  country 
west  of  the  Alleghany  Mountains.  France,  arrogant  and 
confident,  was  crowding  in  every- where;  England,  despond- 
ent, and  dissatisfied  with  her  rulers,  was  losing  influence  and 
on  the  way  to  loss  of  territory.  The  force  which  Braddock 
led  against  Fork  Duquesne,  at  the  juncture  of  the  Alleghany 
and  Monongahela  Rivers,  was  routed  by  the  French  (1755), 
and  only  the  skill  of  George  Washington  saved  the  colonial 
troops  from  the  fate  of  the  redcoats.  War  with  France 
followed— " The  Seven  Years'  War"  (1756-1763). 

Europe,  America,  and  India  were  the  battle-fields  in  this 
conflict.  In  Europe  the  strength  of  the  English  lay  in  their 
alliance  with  Frederick  the  Great,  King  of  Prussia.  With 
their  money  he  paid  the  expenses  of  the  campaigns  which 
his  brain  directed  and  his  soldiers  fought.  But  Russia  and 
Austria,  as  well  as  France,  were  in  arms  against  him,  and  the 
European  outlook  in  1757  was  dismal  indeed.  The  French 
won  the  first  successes  both  there  and  in  America. 

England  was  in  despair.  She  had  no  generals,  her  only 
ally  was  beset  by  three  powerful  empires,  her  king  was  at 
heart  a  foreigner,  and  his  English  ministers  were  incom- 
petent. At  this  moment  of  humiliation,  William  Pitt,  a 
member  of  the  House  of  Commons,  a  person  without  rank  or 
fortune,  offered  to  save  the  nation.    "  I  know  that  I  can  save 


HOUSB    OF    HaXOVEB,     OB    BbUNSWICB^  J  7  7 

this  country,"  lie  had  the  confidence  to  Bay,  "and  I  know 
no  other  man  can."  In  October,  L  757,  he  became  the  hail- 
ing spirit  of  the  government. 

Trusting  supremely  in  the  courage  and  purpose  of  the  En- 
glish people  Pitt  threw  the  whole  force  of  an  impetuous 
nature  into  the  war.     "With  a  great  man's  eye  for  true  men  he 

chose   new   generals   to   replace   the   tlukcs    and   princes   who 

had  been  retreating  before  Frenchmen.  Under  the  Ger- 
man Ferdinand  of  Brunswick  the  English  heat  the  French 
at  Minden  in  the  summer  of  L759.  In  America  Fort  Du- 
quesne  surrendered  ( 1 7  5  s )  ^  and  the  grateful  colonists 
renamed  it  Fort  Pitt,  (now  Pittsburg).  Amherst,  one  of 
Pitt's  new  commanders,  took  Fort  Ticonderoga  on  Lake 
Champlain,  and  another  untried  general,  James  Wolfe, 
fought  upon  the  Plains  of  Abraham  the  battle  with  Mont- 
calm, which  won  Onehee,  Montreal,  and  eventually  all  Canada, 
for  England. 

The  slowly  traveling  news  from  India  was  more  wond<  lt'ul 
yet.  The  British  Easl  India  Company  had  monopolized 
the  trade  of  India  for  one  hundred,  and  fifty  years.  In  1711 
Dupleix,an  able  Frenchman,  undertook  to  introduce  French 
influence,  but  the  ability  of  Roberl  Clive,  a  clerk  in  the 
company's  employ,  thwarted  the  attempt.  When  the  two 
nations  renewed  hostilities  in  Europe  Clive  resumed  the 
field  in  Asia.  In  June,  1757,  lie  won  the  hat ile  of  Plassy, 
thereby  becoming  master  of  Bengal,  and  laying  the  founda- 
tion of  the  British  Empire  in  India. 

The  victories  011  three  continents  revived  the  spirit  of  the 
nation.       England     was    Baved,    and    the     people    adored    the 

statesman  who  had  saved  her     the  "Great   Commoner"  as 
Pitt  was  proud  to  he  called.     The  death  of  the  king, October 
;  760,  checked  hi-  triumphant  career. 

While    Walpole  and    I'itt  were  molding  the  goveinuiit  of 

the  nation  another  force  was  working  upon  the  private  life 
of  the  people,  and  a  might)  revival  of  religion  was  rattling 


278  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

the  dry  bones  of  the  Established  Church,  which  in  the  cent- 
ury since  the  fall  of  Puritanism  had  become  cold  and  life- 
less. A  group  of  Oxford  students,  nicknamed  "  Methodists" 
from  the  regularity  of  the'r  devotions,  led  the  new  move- 
ment, which  revived  spiritual  religion  among  the  common 
people,  and  purged  the  Church  itself  of  the  careless  and 
worldly  clergy.  John  and  Charles  Wesley  and  George 
Whitefield  were  the  leaders  of  this  important  agitation.  Its 
results  are  far-reaching.  Popular  education,  hospitals,  asy- 
lums, and  reformed  prisons  are  among  the  fruits  of  the  seed 
which  the  Methodists  sowed. 

Frederick,  Prince  of  Wales,  died  before  his  father,  and  it 
was  his  eldest  son  who  came  to  the  throne  as  King  George 
the  Third.  For  sixty  years  (1760-1820),  the  longest  of  En- 
glish reigns,  this  prince  was  king  of  England.  Within  this 
long  period  the  United  States  achieved  their  independence, 
the  mad  drama  of  the  French  Revolution  was  played  to  the 
curtain -fall,  Napoleon  Bonaparte  won  and  lost  an  empire, 
and  the  introduction  of  steam  wrought  industrial  changes  as 
momentous  as  those  which  plunged  two  continents  in  blood. 
George  III.  inherited  the  throne  at  the  age  of  twenty-three 
— the  first  Hanoverian  sovereign  of  English  birth.  "  Be 
king,  George,  be  king,"  was  the  constant  admonition  of  his 
mother,  and  to  the  best  of  his  limited  ability  he  obeyed  her 
ambitious  instructions.  Never  strong  of  mind,  but  ever 
strong  of  will,  he  determined  not  simply  to  reign  but  to  rule. 
For  ministers  he  had  no  use  except  as  his  agents.  He  tried 
to  be  his  own  prime  minister,  forming  his  own  policy,  and 
executing  it  by  means  of  an  obedient  cabinet  and  a  House  of 
Commons  in  his  pay. 

There  could  be  no  sympathy  between  Pitt's  royal  nature 
and  the  bigoted  perversity  of  the  king.  The  prime  minister 
was  devoted  to  the  continuance  of  the  war  ;  Pitt  not  onlv 
helped  Frederick  of  Prussia,  but,  finding  that  Spain  was  in 
close  league  with  France  against  Great  Britain,  he  came  out 


House  of  Kanovbb,  ob   Brunswick.  279 

boldly  for  a  Spanish  war.  The  king  opposed  it.  The  enor- 
mous expense  of  the  Btrnggle  thus  far  tamed  many  Whiga 
against  it.  Unable  t<>  accomplish  his  purpose,  the  great 
commoner  resigned  (17">i).  Lord  Bute,  a  Tory,  and  a  mere 
court  favorite,  now  became  George's  adviser,  and  in  1762 
wa-  made  prime  minister,  for  the  purpose  of  carrying  <>ut 
the  royal  wishes.  The  Peace  of  Paris,  between  Greal  Britain, 
France,  and  Spain,  was  signed  early  in  1 T * ■  - " .  Prance  gave  tip 
Canada  and  the  territory  between  the  Mississippi  and  theAl- 
leghanies,  with  lesser  possessions  in  the  West  Indies  and 
Africa.     Spain  ceded  Florida  to  England. 

The  disgraceful  Bervility  of  the  House  of  ( lommons  to  tlie 
king  and  his  creatures  is  accounted  for  by  its  antiquated  con- 
stitution. Changes  in  the  population  of  the  nation  had  de- 
stroyed its  pretensions  to  representative  character.  Bor- 
oughs populous  in  the  early  days  of  Parliament,  and  then 
entitled  to  two  members,  had  shrunken  in  size,  while  thriving 
cities,  growing  up  since  the  apportionment,  had  no  members 
at  all.  In  many  of  the  dwindled  towns  only  a  handful  of 
voters  remained.  A  few  boroughs  had  no  voters.  These 
"close"  or  "rotten"  boroughs  were  the  property  of  some 
nobleman — his  "  pocket-boroughs,"  and  he  selected  the  mem- 
bers. Out  of  eighl  million^  of  people,  only  one  hundred  and 
sixty  thousand  voted  at  elections.  Upon  this  small  electoral 
body  bribery  was  effective,  and  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  itself  were  tempted  by  open  offers  of  money, 
public  contracts,  or  high  office.  This  state  of  affaire  pro- 
duced a  Btong  party  of  "  king's  friends,"  while  it  made  Par- 
liament thoroughly  unpopular  with  the  body  of  the  nation. 
The  arbitrary  acts  of  the  Commons  deepened  this  dislike. 
Subjected  to  hitter  criticism  by  the  press,  Parliament  en- 
deavored to  curb  its  liberty.  In  17»'.I  one  John  Wilkes,  :i 
member,  \\.i-  expelled  from  Parliament  for  harsh  criticisms 
of  the  king's  speech  published  in  his  paper,  the  North  Briton, 
In    17,''.,  lie  Bat    for    Middlesex    in    the   new  Parliament,  and 


280  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

having  been  expelled  for  new  libels,  was  twice  re-elected  and 
rejected.  This  called  forth  lond  protests,  as  an  invasion  of 
the  rights  of  constituents.  A  series  of  letters  (1769-1*772) 
published  in  the  Daily  Advertiser  over  the  signature  "Junius" 
criticised  the  course  of  the  government  with  the  sharpest 
pen  ever  used  in  political  controversy.  In  1771  the  House  of 
Commons  attempted  to  suppress  the  publication  of  its  de- 
bates. But  the  nation  took  sides  with  the  printers,  and  Par- 
liament prudently  abandoned  the  prosecution,  and  left  the 
press  untrammeled. 

The  English  colonies  in  America,  most  of  them  founded 
by  fugitives  from  oppression  at  home,  had  gradually  in- 
creased in  extent  and  population  until,  at  the  close  of  the 
Seven  Years'  War  (1763)  they  numbered  thirteen  colonies  and 
over  two  million  souls.  The  British  government,  burdened 
by  debt,  part  of  which  was  incurred  in  defense  of  the 
northern  colonies  against  the  French  and  Indians,  asserted 
its  right  to  tax  the  colonies  to  pay  it.  The  colonies  made  a 
spirited  resistance,  declaring  the  principle,  "No  taxation 
without  representation."  Having  no  voice  in  Parliament  they 
denied  the  right  of  that  body  to  levy  taxes,  although  they 
did  not  deny  their  liability  for  a  share  of  the  war  expenses. 

George  Grenville,  who  succeeded  Bute  as  minister,  would 
not  recede  from  his  position.  He  gave  orders  for  the  strict 
enforcement  of  the  revenue  laws  in  America,  and  obtained 
the  passage  of  a  "Stamp  Act"  (1765),  requiring  legal  and 
financial  papers  and  other  documents  used  in  the  colonies  to 
bear  a  British  revenue  stamp.  The  colonies  thereupon  agreed 
to  use  no  goods  imported  from  Britain;  the  stamp-sellers  were 
mobbed,  and  the  provinces  drew  together  in  a  congress  to  make 
protest.  Grenville  gave  way  to  Rockingham.  Pitt,  now 
Earl  of  Chatham,  in  the  Lords,  and  Edmund  Burke,  the 
Whig  orator  of  the  Commons,  pleaded  for  the  repeal  of  the 
Stamp  Act  and  generous  dealings.  It  was  repealed  in  Maro!i, 
1766,  but  not  until  Parliament  had  exasperated  the  colonists 


lli'isi:  of  IIan.ivkk.  ob  Bbunbwick.  381 

by  re-asserting  its  right  to  tax  the  Americana  "  in  all  <■ 
whatsoever." 

King  George  was  deeply  offended  by  the  repeal  act.  Ho 
hated  Pitt,  and  welcomed  with  delight  his  resignation  from 
the  ministry.  For  twelve  years  (1770-1782)  George  nsed 
Lord  North  as  he  had  used  Bute,  as  the  pliant  agent  of  his 
own  personal  designs.  First  among  these  was  the  subjection 
of  the  rebellious  Americans.  An  attempt  to  compel  the  colo- 
nists to  use  imported  tea  was  thwarted  in  Boston  in  Decem- 
ber, 177::,  by  a  mob,  disguised  as  Indians,  who  threw  the  tea 
into  the  harbor.  To  punish  the  Bostonians  Parliament  passed 
the  "Boston  Port  Pill*'  (I77t),  prohibiting  trade  with  the 
rebellious  city.  At  the  same  time  General  Gage, commander- 
in-chief  of  the  British  forces  in  America,  was  made  governor 
of  Massachusetts,  with  increased  powers.  Iii  September  the 
first  Continental  Congress  met  in  Philadelphia,  and  protested 
against  these  and  similar  acts  of  tyranny.  In  April  of  the 
following  year  the  royal  troops  in  Massachusetts  encount- 
ered the  provincial  minute-men  in  the  Battles  of  Lexington 
and  Concord,  and  the  New  England  militia  in  large  num- 
bers surrounded  Gage  in  Boston.     Congress  met  in  .May  and 

appointed  George  Washington,  of  Virginia,  i manderof  the 

forces  ;  even  before  he  reached  the  army  the  Battle  of  Hun- 
ker's Hill  had  shown  the  ability  of  New  England  militiamen 
to  face  the  fire  of  regulars.  In  March,  1776,  the  British 
evacuate.]    Boston  and  removed  the  garrison  to  New  York. 

The  war  had  begun  in  dead  earnest,  and  the  colonial  leaders 

recognized   that  retreal    was  impossible.     On  the  Fourth  of 

July,  1  776,  tiny  formally  adopted  a  solemn  statement  of  their 

wrongs,  closing  with  the  Declaraf  ion  of  Independence*  "We, 
the  Representatives  of  the  United  States  of  America  in  Con- 
gress assembled,  appealing  to  the  Supreme  Judge  of  the 
world  for  the  rectitude  of  our  intentions,  solemnly  publish 
and  declare  that  these  United  Colonies  are,  and  of  right 
ought  'o  l.e,  Free  and  [ndependenl  Stat< 


282  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

The  Declaration  roused  England  to  greater  exertions  to 
reunite  the  empire,  and  stirred  the  Americans  to  seek  recog- 
nition and  help  from  Europe.  The  year  1776  closed  disas- 
trously for  them,  and  1777  opened  even  more  dismally. 
General  Howe  drove  Congress  from  Philadelphia,  but  in  Oc- 
tober Burgoyne,  advancing  southward  from  Canada  with  a 
fine  army,  was  surrounded,  and  compelled  to  surrender  to  the 
American  General  Gates  at  Saratoga. 

In  the  House  of  Lords,  Chatham  still  pleaded  for  reconcili- 
ation, but  the  hour  for  that  had  passed.  The  Congress  re- 
jected all  overtures.  Pitt  was  again  invited  to  become  prime 
minister,  but  death  intervened.  France,  led  by  sympathy  for 
the  struggling  freemen  and  by  hatred  of  Great  Britain,  recog- 
nized the  independence  of  the  new  States,  and  joined  in  the 
war  (1778)  with  a  fleet.  Spain  followed  her  leader  (1779), 
and  for  three  years  and  a  half  laid  siege  to  General  Elliot  in 
Gibraltar.  Holland  joined  the  allies  in  1780.  In  the  next 
year  the  combined  forces  of  France  and  America  entrapped 
Lord  Cornwallis  with  a  British  army  of  seven  thousand  men 
at  Yorktown,  Va.,  intercepted  his  communications  with  the 
northern  army,  and  finally,  in  October,  compelled  him  to  sur- 
render.    The  news  struck  Lord  North  like  a  bullet. 

The  war  could  not  go  on.  Weak  as  were  the  revolted 
States,  seven  campaigns  had  utterly  failed  to  subdue  them. 
Dangers  surrounded  Britain  ;  all  Europe  was  hostile  ;  France, 
Spain,  and  Holland  at  open  war  ;  Russia,  Denmark,  and 
Sweden  leagued  in  an  "Armed  Neutrality"  (1780)  to  resist 
the  English  practice  of  searching  all  ships  for  contraband 
goods.  Ireland  was  clamoring  for  "  home  rule."  Even  the 
long-suffering  Parliament  would  no  longer  support  the  min- 
istry, and  notwithstanding  the  king's  fixed  purpose  to  punish 
the  rebels,  Lord  North  resigned  his  thankless  office.  Rock- 
ingham returned  to  power  with  a  Whig  ministry  containing 
the  brilliant  orators  Edmund  Burke,  Charles  James  Fox,  and 
Richard  Brinsley  Sheridan.    This  cabinet,  remodeled  at  Rock- 


House  oe  Haxoveb,  or  Brunswick. 

Ingham's  death  by  Lord  Shelburne,  performed  the  humiliating 
tasks  which  were  se1  before  it.  Ireland  was  made  to  rejoice  in 
a  free  Parliament  (Grattan's  Parliament)  al  Dublin,  and  prac- 
tical Belf-government  under  the  crown.  Peace  with  America 
was  formally  declared  in  1783.  Greal  Britain  recognised 
the  thirteen  revolted  colonies  as  the  United  States  of  Amer- 
ica— an  independent  nation:  Spain  received  Florida;  Canada 
remained  loyal  to  the  crown.  In  India,  alone  in  these  fatal 
vcar>,  the  genius  of  Warren  Hastings,  governor-general,  had 
extended  the  boundaries  of  the  empire. 

I'..  fore  the  close  of  the  American  war  a  British  navigator, 
Captain  James  Cook,  had  made  a  Beries  of  ■>  oyages  in  the  Pa- 
cific Ocean  which  made  up  to  England  her  losses  in  the  West. 

He  discovered  tin-  Sandwich  Islands  and  many  Lesser  groups 
of  Australasia,  and  opened  the  way  for  the  settlement  of  Tas- 
mania, New  Zealand  and  Australia— destined  soon  to  become 
a  splendid  portion  of  the  empire. 

The  dread  of  the  Catholics,  which  had  molded  Legislation 
in  the  preceding  century,  when  there  was  really  danger  that 
the  Established  Church  would  he  Romanized,  had  now  van- 
ished so  far  that  in  177s  the  government  ventured  to  repeal 
certain  oppressive  acts  relating  to  the  Christians  of  that  com- 
munion. But  the  old  animosity  was  only  Bleeping,  ami  some 
crazy  utterances  of  Lord  George  Gordon  awakened  the  fa- 
natical cry  that  the  Protestant  religion  was  in  danger.     "No 

popery"  riots  raged  in  I. on. Ion  in  . I  une,  17v",  for  five  days, 
the  criminal  and  idle  taking  advantage  of  the  tumult  to  hunt 
and  plunder. 

William    Pitt,  second    BOD  of    Lord  Chatham,  the  friend  of 

America,  became  prime  minister  in  1783,  and  held  that  high- 
est office  for  eighteen  years  (1783  L801).  Under  his  guid- 
ance Greal  Britain  rallied  from  the  loss  of  America,  consoli- 
dated her  foreign  possessions,  and  so  increased  in  wealth  and 
military  power  that  she  became  the  defense  of  Europe 
•gainst  the  ambition  of  Napoleon  Bonaparte,     The  youn  •  t 


284  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

Pitt  came  from  college  to  Parliament  (1781).     In  December, 

1783,  before  his  twenty-fifth  birthday,  he  was  first  lord  of  the 

treasury  and  virtual  ruler  of  Great  Britain. 

"A  sight  to  make  surrounding  nations  stare — 
A  kingdom  trusted  to  a  school-boy's  care  I  " 

But  the  school-boy  had  improved  his  time.  His  great 
father's  instructions  sank  into  a  singularly  fertile  mind,  and 
the  young  man  had  early  familiarized  himself  with  political 
economy  and  the  problem  of  governing  an  industrial  and 
commercial  nation.  The  improvement  of  the  steam-engine 
by  Watt  (1765),  the  invention  of  the  spinning-jenny  by  Har- 
greaves  (1764),  the  spinning-frame  by  Arkwright  (1768),  the 
"  mule  "  spinner  by  Crompton  (1776),  and  the  power-loom, 
gave  an  enormous  impetus  to  textile  manufactures.  New 
processes  in  metallurgy  made  available  the  stores  of  coal  and 
iron  which  had  lain  idle  in  the  hills  and  moorlands  of  the 
Pennine  Chain.  Over  these  industries  Pitt  watched  with  es- 
pecial care,  and  his  treaties  with  foreign  powers  fostered  com- 
merce by  extending  freedom  of  trade.  The  empire  which 
the  East  India  Company  had  won  was  brought  under  the  par- 
tial control  of  the  home  government  (1784).  Pitt's  efforts 
for  the  reform  of  Parliament  by  the  abolition  of  the  "  rotten 
boroughs  "  were  defeated,  as  was  his  bill  for  the  abolition  of 
the  slave-trade. 

Fox,  the  brilliant  orator  of  the  Whigs,  was  Pitt's  most 
dangerous  opponent.  The  king's  weak  mind  failed  under  the 
stress  of  responsibility  and  disappointment.  The  wayward- 
ness of  his  son  George,  Prince  of  Wales,  grieved  and  vexed 
him.  Fox,  lately  minister,  drank  and  gambled  with  the 
prince,  and  when  the  king's  madness  befell  in  1788,  Fox  de- 
manded the  regency  as  Prince  George's  right.  Pitt  defended 
the  claim  of  Parliament  to  select  the  regent,  and  while  the 
giants  were  contending  the  king's  mind  cleared  again.  But 
from  time  to  time  the  clouds  returned,  and  after  November, 
1810,  the  sunlight   never  pierced  them,  King  George  III. 


Hor-i:   i>f   II\\"\i:k,   OB  Kia  ssw nk.  285 

ires  hopelessly  insane  and  blind,  and  tin'  profligate  Prince  of 
Wales  became  regent. 

Prom  17-'.'  until  L815,  Prance  was  the  center-poinl  of 
European  affairs.  The  condition  of  the  kingdom  \v.ns  pecul- 
iar. -V  succession  of  Bourbon  kings  had  collected  all  author- 
ity into  the  hands  o(  the  monarch.  The  nobility  and  the 
Church  remained  without  share  in  the  government,  but  with 
many  privileges  These  orders  were  exempt  from  the  taxa- 
tion which  oppressed  the  common  people,  and  they  ra po- 

lized  all  offices  -V  group  of  writers,  of  whom  Jean  Jacques 
Rousseau  was  the  representative,  filled  the  nation  with  spec- 
ulations and  sentimental  theories  upon  the  constitution  of 
society.  The  doctrine  of  the  equality  of  man  pervaded  all 
dase  The  young  King  Louis  XVI.   (1774—1792),   kind- 

hearted  but  irresolute,  was  powerless  to  guide  reform.  The 
finances  of  the  kingdom  were  bo  disordered  that,  in  1780,  rep- 
resentatives of  the  nation — the  States  General — were  sum- 
monded  (for the  first  time  since  1614)  to  consider  measures  of 
taxation.  This  body,  swayed  by  the  ideas  of  "  liberty,  equal- 
ity, and  fraternity,"  abolished  the  privileges  of  aristocracy 
and  clergy,  and  formed  a  constitutional  government  not  unlike 
thai  of  Great  Britain.  Great  was  the  enthusiasm  in  England 
over  the  French  Revolution.  Wordsworth  says , »f  the  time  : 
"J:  -  it  in  that  dawn  to  be  all  i 

But  to  be  young  was  very  heavi 

I  \  welcomed  it  with  delight,  l'itt  sympathized  with  the 
French  struggle  for  liberty,  though  Burke,  cutting  loose  from 
his  old  friends,  prophesied  disaster  from  the  overturning  of 
the  established  government.  The  prophecy  was  fulfilled. 
The  French  Republicans,  dissatisfied  with  the  moderate 
oration,  hurried  Prance  into  war  with  Germany,  and  be- 
headed the  king  with  hi<  queen,  .Marie  Antoinette,  as  enemies 
of  the  nation  (I7'.i:{j.  The  revolution  offered  its  help  to  all 
the  oppressed  people-  of  Europe,  and  declare. 1  war  upon 
Holland,  Spain,  Germany,  and  England  (1793   1802). 


286  An  Outline  History  of  EnglanB. 

Forced  into  the  war  against  his  will,  the  prime  minister  car- 
ried it  on  with  little  of  the  brilliancy  which  had  marked  his 
civil  policy.  England  was  strong  on  the  sea,  but  no  English 
general  could  cope  successfully  with  the  young  men  who 
led  the  republican  armies.  The  armies  of  Austria  and  Prus- 
sia, fed  and  clothed  by  English  money,  were  poorly  led  and 
accomplished  nothing.  In  1795  a  new  constitution  placed 
the  government  of  the  Republic  in  the  hands  of  five  direct- 
ors. Napoleon  Bonaparte,  a  young  artillery  officer,  became 
general  of  the  armies,  and  his  victories  in  Austrian  Italy  ex- 
torted peace  from  Austria  (Treaty  of  Campo  Formio,  1797). 

Pitt  vainly  endeavored  to  gain  peace  for  England  also, 
but  the  French  had  other  projects.  The  "  United  Irishmen  " 
awaited  their  promised  assistance  to  break  their  island  away 
from  the  British  Empire.  But  the  naval  victories  of  Jervis 
over  the  Spanish  off  Cape  St.  Vincent  in  February,  and  the 
dispersion  of  the  Dutch  fleet  by  Admiral  Duncan  at  Camper- 
down  in  October,  prevented  the  French  auxiliaries  from  cross- 
ing the  Channel.  The  Irish  rose  unaided,  and  were  put  down 
in  the  battle  of  Vinegar  Hill,  in  May,  1798.  Peace  with 
Austria  encouraged  Napoleon  to  threaten  the  English  pos- 
sessions in  India.  In  1798  he  conquered  Egypt,  but  the 
genius  of  Admiral  Nelson  destroyed  his  fleet  at  Aboukir 
(August  1)  in  the  famous  Battle  of  the  Nile.  Foiled  in  an 
attempt  to  subdue  the  East,  Bonaparte  returned  alone  to 
France  in  October,  1799.  He  found  the  Directory  involved 
in  a  great  war.  Russia  and  Austria  had  joined  hands;  Pitt 
had  filled  their  war  chests  with  British  gold,  and  Portugal, 
Naples,  and  Turkey  had  united  with  them  to  check  the 
French  advance.  By  a  sudden  stroke  Napoleon  overthrew 
the  Directory,  and  set  up  a  new  constitution  with  himself  as 
First  Consul.  Defeats  at  Marengo  ami  Ilohenlinden  (1800) 
forced  Austria  to  a  second  peace  (Treaty  of  Luneville,  1801), 
shattering  the  coalition  upon  which  Pitt  had  staked  his  hopes. 

The  week  before  the  Treaty  of  Luneville  was  signed  the 


House  of  Hanover,  ob   Brunswick^.  %8l 

great  minister  bad  resigned  bis  office  <»n  accounl  of  a  conflict 
with  King  George.  Throughout  the  war  with  France  Ire- 
land hu<l  been  a  constant  menace  to  Great  Britain.  The 
home  rule  granted  in  1782  had  been  a  failure,  for  the  Irish 
Parliament  was  controlled  by  a  few  ereat  landlords  and  did 
not  represent  the  nation.  Accordingly,  in  1800,  Mr.  Pitt 
obtained  the  consent  of  both  nations  to  the  abolition  of  the 
Parliament.  It  is  -aid  that  the  consent  of  Ireland  was 
shamelessly  purchased.  'The  legislative  anion  of  Great 
Britain  and  Ireland  dates  from  January  l,  L801.  Since  thai 
time  Irish  members  have  sal  in  both  Houses,  and  one  Parlia- 
ment has  made  laws  for  the  three  kingdoms.  The  promise 
of  liberal  concessions  to  the  Roman  Catholics  had  quieted 
their  opposition  to  the  union.  But  these  promises  the  Brit- 
ish Parliament  refused  to  honor.  Pitt  urged  that  all  the 
real  or  fancied  perils  to  the  State  Church  had  disappeared 
and  that  the  Catholics  deserved  equal  political  rights.  Such 
a  measure  might  have  won  the  hearty  allegiance  of  Ireland 
to  the  anion,  but  it  mei  with  the  determined  opposition  of 

the  stubborn  king.     He  had  -worn  on  his  coronati lay  "to 

defend  the  faith,"  and  he  obstinately  declared  that  no  man 
shoidd  force  him  to  break  thai  oath.  The  project,  indeed, 
was  distasteful  to  the  Protestants,  and  the  king's  enmity 
destroyed  it-  only  chance  of  success 

Pitt  resigned  hi^  office  in  despair,  and  a  new  ministry  of 
almost  unknown  men — the  Addington  cabinet — took  up  the 
government.  A  league  of  Russia,  Denmark,  and  other 
northern  maritime  State-  confronted  them.  The  Battle  of 
tin-  Baltic  (Copenhagen),  won  by  Nelson  in  April,  L801,  and 
a  reconciliation  between  England  and  the  n<u  czar,  Alexan- 
der of  Russia,  dispelled  thai  danger,  and  in  March,  1802,  the 
war  with  France  was  ended  by  the  Peace  of  Amiens.  Cey- 
lon was  tin-  only  important  conquest  retained  by  England. 

The  peace  lasted  bul  fourteen  months,  and  under  it-  cloak 
Bonaparte  prepared  an  enormous  armament  for  the  invasion 


288  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

of  England.  His  intentions  were  so  evident  that  England 
herself  declared  war  with  France  in  May,  1803.  With  one 
voice  the  British  nation  recalled  William  Pitt  to  the  head 
of  the  government,  and  though  near  his  death  he  obeyed 
(1804).  An  army  of  volunteers  was  gathered  in  haste  to 
repel  the  invasion.  The  royal  fleet  patrolled  the  narrow 
seas  to  prevent  the  passage  of  the  hosts  at  Boulogne.  "Give 
us  the  Channel  for  six  hours  and  England  is  ours,"  said  Na- 
poleon, but  not  for  six  minutes  did  the  English  admirals 
relax  their  vigilance. 

Meanwhile  Pitt's  active  emissaries  in  the  northern  courts 
had  formed  the  "  Third  Coalition  "  of  Austria,  Sweden,  and 
Russia  for  vigorous  war  against  Bonaparte,  who,  in  1804, 
assumed  the  title  of  Emperor  Napoleon.  The  emperor, 
matchless  in  rapidity  of  decision  and  action,  abandoned 
the  English  expedition  and  hurrying  eastward  captured  an 
Austrian  army  at  Ulm.  Eight  days  later  (October  25,  1804) 
Nelson  destroyed  the  French  and  Spanish  fleets,  and  lost  his 
own  recklessly  ventured  life  in  the  Battle  of  Trafalgar. 
The  naval  power  of  Napoleon  was  crushed,  and  for  the 
time  the  fears  of  England  were  relieved;  but  the  emperor's 
armies  seemed  invincible.  In  December,  1805,  he  struck 
Austria  and  Russia  a  terrible  blow  at  Austerlitz,  the  "  bat- 
tle of  the  three  emperors."  Austria  hastily  left  the  coalition 
and  made  peace  with  "the  emperor.  Prussia  likewise  joined 
the  victor.     England  was  once  more  left  almost  alone. 

The  news  of  Austerlitz  was  Pitt's  death-blow.  "Roll 
up  that  map,"  he  said,  pointing  to  the  map  of  Europe, 
"  there  will  be  no  use  for  it  these  ten  years;  "  and  he  spoke 
truly,  for  the  emperor  carved  out  new  kingdoms  from  his 
conquests  and  changed  the  boundaries  of  nearly  every  State 
of  western  Europe.  On  January  23,  1806,  the  great  minis- 
ter died,  amid  the  lamentations  of  his  countrymen,  and  was 
buried  by  Lord  Chatham's  side  in  Westminster  Abbey. 

With  characteristic  subtlety  Napoleon  next  attacked  Great 


House  of  Hanover,  or  Brunswick.  28fl 

Britain  through  her  commerce.  While  her  navy  held  the 
seas  he  could  not  invade  the  island,  but  he  mighl  destroy 
her  trade  with  Europe.  From  the  capital  of  conquered 
Prussia,  in  November,  L806,  the  emperor  launched  his  fa- 
mous "Berlin  decree"  closing  the  ports  of  Europe  to  British 
trade  and  declaring  the  British  Isles  in  a  state  of  blockade, 
greal  Britain  answered  this  by  its  "orders  in  council,"  block- 
ading the  French  ports  and  authorizing  the  capture  of 
neutral  vessels  trading  with  them.  By  the  Peace  of  Tilsit 
(July,  1807)  Russia  and  Prussia  were  added  to  the  countries 
from  which  British  trade  was  exclude.]  by  the  emperor's 
"continental  Bystem."  The  possession  of  Denmark  would 
have  barred  the  Baltic  to  British  commerce,  and  Napoleon 
planned  to  Beize  that  country,  when  England — now  guided 
bv  a  ministry  in  which  Canning  and  Castlereagh  were  the 
leading  men— descended  upon  Copenhagen,  and  after  bom- 
barding the  city  (September,  1807,)  captured  and  carried  off 
the  whole  Danish  fleet.  Portugal,  which  also  stood  aloof 
from  the  continental  system,  was  occupied  by  the  French 
(November,  1807),  and  an  army  of  100,000  Frenchmen  gar- 
risoned  Spain. 

In  1808  the  Btrnggle  with  Napoleon  assumed  a  new  phase. 
In  thai  year  he  brutally  deposed  the  rightful  king  of  Spain 
and  placed  his  brother,  Joseph  Bonaparte,  on  the  throne. 
The  Spanish  nation  rose  in  wild  revolt,  and  England  sent 
men  and  money  to  aid  them  in  their  six  years'  Rtruggle, "  the 
Peninsular  War"  (1808  1814).  Sir  Arthur  Wellesley,  a 
friend  of  Pitt,  and  a  veteran  of  the  wars  in  India,  was  the 
hero  of  the  English  expedition  which  cleared  Portugal  of 
the  French  (1808).  Sir  John  Moore,  commanding  in  Spain, 
u.i-  driven  out  by  an  immense  force  commanded  by  the 
emperor  and  Marshal  Soull  (January,  1809),  hut  in  midsum- 
mer, when  Napoleon  had  been  called  away  by  a  new  (the 
fifth)  Austrian  war,  Wellesley  pushed  into  Spain  and 
defeated  the  French  at  Talavera.  For  this  he  was  created 
l  I 


290  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

Viscount  Wellington,  and  from  this  time  the  English  hoped 
they  had  found  a  general.  Yet  they  gave  him  meager  sup- 
port, and  though  he  clung  tenaciously  to  Portugal  it  was  not 
until  1812  that  the  English  gained  a  firm  foothold  in  Spain. 

In  that  year  Napoleon  led  half  a  million  men  into  the 
heart  of  Russia  to  compel  the  czar  to  observe  the  continental 
system.  He  was  forced  to  retreat,  and  Prussia,  Russia,  and 
Austria  joined  a  new  coalition  with  England  to  put  an  end 
to  his  career.  In  the  three  days'  Battle  of  the  Nations  at 
Leipzig  (October  16,  18,  19,  1S13),  Napoleon  received  his 
first  great  defeat.  The  withdrawal  of  the  French  troops 
from  Spain  for  the  emperor's  army  gave  Wellington  his 
opportunity.  In  1813  he  expelled  the  French  from  the 
Peninsula  and  followed  them  into  their  own  territory.  As 
he  entered  France  from  the  south  the  allies  crossed  the  Rhine 
and  pressed  toward  Paris.  All  that  Napoleon's  military  skill 
could  do  was  done  to  save  the  capital,  but  the  forces  against 
him  were  overwhelming.  On  March  21,  1814,  the  king  of 
Prussia  and  the  emperor  of  Austria  entered  Paris.  The  em- 
peror of  the  French  abdicated  his  throne  and  left  France,  the 
allies  giving  him  the  island  of  Elba. 

The  war  did  not  end  with  the  abdication  of  Napoleon. 
While  the  allies  were  quarreling  over  the  settlement  of 
Europe,  Bonaparte  left  Elba  and  re-entered  France.  His 
old  soldiers  joined  him.  The  powers  of  Europe  hastily  re- 
newed their  alliance.  Two  great  armies,  the  English  under 
Wellington,  and  the  Prussians  under  Bliicher,  were  assembled 
in  Belgium.  On  the  14th  of  June,  1815,  Napoleon  crossed 
the  Belgian  frontier,  endeavoring  to  crush  each  force  before 
its  juncture.  Wellington's  victory  at  Waterloo,  June  18,  de- 
stroyed the  emperor's  hopes  ;  he  gave  himself  up  to  the  British 
government,  and  was  imprisoned  on  the  island  of  St.  Helena, 
where  he  died  May  5,  1821.  In  the  Congress  of  Vienna  the 
allies  stripped  France  of  her  conquests,  England's  share  being 
the  Cape  of  Good  Hope,  Ceylon,  Malta,  and  a  few  small  islands. 


House  of  IIaxover,  ob  BbunswicK.  291 

The  United  States  had  suffered  severely  from  the  enforce- 
ment of  the  laws  against  trade  by  which  France  and  En- 
gland had  waged  their  commercial  war.  American  vessels 
had  been  Beized  and  searched,  and  the  British  practice  of 
impressing  alleged  English  Beamen  found  on  American  vessels 
was  especially  galling.  After  vain  remonstrances,  the  United 
States  declared  in  1812  the  second  war  with  England.  The 
land  operations  were  generally  unimportant.  The  American 
invasions  of  Canada  were  repulsed,  and  the  British  incursions 
from  the  north  met  with  discouragemenl  and  defeat.  On  the 
m;i  the  few  vessels  flying  the  stars  and  stripes  were  generally 
victorious  in  a  number  of  hard-fought  duels  with  British 
men-of-war.  The  cessation  of  hostilities  in  Spain  enabled 
England  to  strengthen  her  forces  in  the  New  World,  and  in 
the  summer  of  Is  14  her  troops  burned  the  public  buildings 
of  Washington,  but  were  beaten  off  from  their  attack  on 
Baltimore.  In  December  General  Jackson  repulsed  the  Brit- 
ish at  New  <  Orleans,  after  the  treaty  of  peace  had  been  signed. 

Since  the  king's  insanity  in  1811  the  Prince  of  Wales,  a 
frivolous  man  of  fashion, had  been  regent,  though  he  lefl  the 
government  entirely  to  his  ministers.  They  had  many  per- 
plexities. High  prices  and  low  wages  stirred  the  laboring 
classes  against  their  employers.  "Luddites,"  attributing 
the  scarcity  of  work  to  the  introduction  of  machinery,  tra- 
versed the  country  in  riotous  bands,  breaking  looms  and 
Bpinning-frames.  Laws  restricting  the  importation  of  foreign 
grain  raised  the  price  of  breadstuff's,  enriching  the  agricult- 
urist at  the  expense  of  the  bread-winner.  Fresh  and  loud 
demands  were  heard  for  the  reform  of  Parliament  and  the 
emancipation  of  the  Catholics.  The  abolition  of  the  slave- 
trade  in  1807  crowned  the  labors  of  Pitt,  Fox,  Clarkson,  and 
Wilberf orce,  but  the  other  needed  reforms  remained  unexe- 
cuted when  the  aged  monarch,  George  the  Third,  blind  and 
broken,  died  at  Windsor,  January  20,  185 

George  IV.  had  already  been  regent  for  nine  years  when 


292  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

he  became  king  at  the  age  of  fifty-seven.  He  left  the  gov- 
ernment entirely  to  his  ministers,  who  reluctantly  yielded  to 
the  growing  demands  for  reform.  In  the  first  year  of  the 
reign  a  plot — called,  from  the  meeting-place  of  the  con- 
spirators, the  "  Cato  Street  conspiracy  " — which  aimed  at  the 
assassination  of  the  entire  cabinet  was  discovered.  Arthur 
Thistlewood  and  four  accomplices  were  hanged.  The  trouble 
grew  out  of  a  meeting  of  radical  reformers  at  St.  Peter's 
Fields,  Manchester,  in  August,  1819.  The  government  had 
broken  up  that  gathering  with  bloodshed,  which  gave  it  the 
name  of  the  "Manchester  Massacre."  The  plot  to  kill  the 
ministers  was  a  project  of  revenge. 

At  the  close  of  the  Napoleonic  wars,  three  nations,  Russia, 
Austria,  and  Prussia,  formed  the  "  Holy  Alliance,"  which 
they  employed  to  repress  the  liberalizing  influences  which  the 
French  revolution  had  let  loose  in  Europe.  Canning,  the 
leading  minister  of  George  IV.,  placed  England  on  the  side 
of  the  "  liberals,"  early  recognizing  the  independence  of  the 
revolted  Spanish-American  republics,  helping  Portugal  against 
Spain,  and  lending  aid  to  the  Greeks  in  their  war  for  inde- 
pendence with  the  Turk.  In  this  administration,  also,  Mr. 
Huskisson  relieved  imports  and  exports  of  some  of  their 
burdens.  The  staunch  Tory  ministry  of  the  duke  of  Wel- 
lington, the  hero  of  Waterloo,  and  Robert  Peel  came  into 
power  in  1828,  and  was  forced  by  circumstances  to  grant 
Catholic  emancipation.  Daniel  O'Connell,  the  Irish  orator, 
fought  for  this  boon,  and  in  1 829  the  government  yielded.  The 
ancient  oaths  of  supremacy,  allegiance,  and  abjuration  gave 
place  to  anew  form  which  a  Roman  Catholic  might  take  with- 
out offending  his  conscience;  membership  in  Parliament  and  all 
offices,  save  the  regency,  the  chancellorship,  and  the  vice-roy- 
alty of  Ireland,  were  thrown  open  to  the  Catholics.  This  was  as 
far  as  the  conservative  Tories  were  willing  to  go  in  the  path  of 
reform.  There  they  stood  when  the  death  of  the  king,  June 
26,  1830,  brought  his  brother  to  the  throne  as  William  IV. 


C'<>N<  LUSION,  293 


CHAPTER  XVI. 

CONCLUSION.     1830  A.  D.-1890  A.  D. 
FROM   THi:    ACCESSION    01'    WILLIAM    IV.    To   THE    PRESENT   TIME. 

William  IV.,  the  eldesl  surviving  >-« -n  of  George  III., 
succeeded  to  the  thrones  of  Greal  Britain  and  Hanover  at  the 
death  ofhia  brother  George  IV,  Juno  26,  1830,  being  then  in 
his  Bixty-fifth  year  and  without  legitimate  children.  His 
education  had  been  imperfect,  and  inhia  long  service  in  the 
navy  this  sailor-prince — "royal  tarry-breeks "  as  Robeii 
Burns  called  him — had  shown  no  real  ability.  lie  was  a 
better  king  than  captain,  and  accepted  with  more  grace  than 
his  predecessors  the  subordinate  position  into  which  the 
development  of  parliamentary  rule  had  forced  the  monarch. 

The  reform  of  Parliament  was  the  question  which  over- 
shadowed all  others  in  the  public  mind.  All  recent  efforts  to 
improve  the  Bystem  of  electing  members  of  the  House  of 
Commons  had  failed  on  account  of  the  inborn  English 
opposition  to  change,  an  opposition  confirmed  by  the  excesses 
of  the  French  Revolution.    The  writings  of  William  ( lobbett, 

elf-taught  journalist,  who  had  Bprung  from  the  common 
people  himself,  and  had  lived  a  Qumber  of  years  in  the 
United  Stat<  j,  gave  a  new  impulse  to  the  efforts  tor  reform. 
Throughout  the  regency  and  the  reign  of  George  IV.,  how- 
ever, I  be  government  declined  to  act.    The  duke  of  Wellington 

and   Sir    Robert    Peel,  hitter   opponents   of   reform,  were   the 

leaders  of  William  IV.'-  first  cabinet.  In  the  House  of  Lords 
the  great  duke  declared  that  the  present  constitution  of  Parlia- 
ment was  agreeable  to  t  he  nation,  and  should  never  be  altered 
with  his  approval.     Such  opinions  made  even  the  hero  of  Wat- 


294  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

erloo  unpopular,  and  the  king  himself  was  mobbed  in  London 
streets.  Pressure  became  so  great  that  the  Tories  resigned 
before  the  end  of  the  year,  the  Whig  Earl  Grey  becoming 
prime  minister,  with  Lord  John  Russell  as  leader  of  the  House 
of  Commons.  The  Commons  rejected  Russell's  Reform  Bill 
(1831),  and  in  a  new  Parliament  the  bill  was  thrown  out  by 
the  Lords  after  passing  the  Lower  House.  The  country  ran 
wild  at  the  endeavors  of  the  aristocracy  to  stop  the  progress 
of  the  bill.  King  William  himself  yielded,  and  promised  to 
create  enough  new  peers  to  reverse  the  anti-reform  majority, 
but  he  was  saved  from  this  extreme  resort  by  the  Lords,  who 
relented.       On  June  7,  18-32,  the  Reform  Bill  became  a  law. 

The  Tories  were  in  despair  at  the  success  of  the  "  Liberals," 
as  the  reformers  were  henceforth  called,  in  contrast  to  the 
"  Conservatives,"  who  desired  to  preserve  the  constitution  from 
innovations.  Wellington  believed  that  England  was  about 
to  follow  the  example  of  France  in  1789,  and  overthrow  all 
safeguards  of  liberty  and  property.  The  law  which  caused 
such  excitement  seems  now  only  beneficial.  From  the  "  rot- 
ten "  boroughs  which,  through  a  decline  of  population,  had 
lost  their  right  to  representation  it  took  one  or  both  members, 
distributing  one  hundred  and  forty-three  seats  thus  gained 
among  populous  manufacturing  cities  like  Manchester  and 
Birmingham,  the  larger  counties  and  newly  created  boroughs. 
The  right  to  vote  for  members  of  Parliament  was  much  ex- 
tended, although  still  limited  to  those  possessing  property  of 
a  certain  value. 

The  first  Parliament  chosen  in  accordance  with  the  new 
law  met  in  January,  1833.  Wellington  expressed  the 
forebodings  of  the  Conservatives,  "  We  can  only  hope  for  the 
best ;  we  cannot  foresee  what  will  happen  ;  but  few  people 
will  be  sanguine  enough  to  imagine  that  we  shall  ever  again 
be  as  prosperous  as  we  have  been."  Yet  this  first  legislature 
which  fairly  represented  modern  England  was  not  a  body  of 
irresponsible  democrats.     To  its  lasting  glory  it  passed  a  bill 


Conclusion.  205 

abolishing  slavery  in  every  English  land  (1S33),  compensating 
tin-  slave-holders  by  a  grant  of  £20,000,000.  It  also  reformed 
the  poor-laws  of  Queen  Elizabeth,  under  which  vagrancy  and 
pauperism  had  multiplied.  The"  Municipal  Corporation  Ac1  " 
of  the  following  year  cleared  the  town  governments  of  En- 
gland and  Wales  of  the  antiquated  customs  which  protected 
plunder  and  corruption.  The  trade  monopoly  enjoyed  for 
two  centuries  by  the  East  India  Company  was  broken  up, 
though  its  share  in  the  Indian  government  wasleft.  In  ls;;t 
the  king  became  dissatisfied  with  his  Liberal  cabinet  and  re- 
placed the  ministry  by  Peel  and  Wellington ;  but  the  sentiment 
of  the  country  was  against  them,  and  in  April,  I1-:1.-"),  they 
resigned  and  the  Whigs  (Liberals)  came  into  power  with 
Lord  Melbourne  as  premier,  Lord  Palmerston  and  Lord  John 
Russell  being  among  his  colleagues. 

King  William  IV.  died  at  Windsor  Castle  at  twoo'clockin 
the  morning  of  June  20,  1837.  At  five  o'clock  the  Princess 
Alexandrina  Victoria,  daughter  <>f  Edward,  Duke  of  Blent, 
George  III.'-  fourth  son,  was  wakened  from  a  sound  sleep  and 

told  that  she  was  queen  of  Great  Britain  and  Ireland.  Sin- 
Ma-  then  but  eighteen  years  old,  well  educated,  and  carefully 
-cclndcd  from  the  licentious  Bayings  and  doings  of  her  uncle's 
court.  With  charming  dignity  she  received  the  announce- 
ment of  her  succession  to  the  throne,  and  took  the  solemn 
oaths  in  the  presence  of  the  lords  and  gentlemen  of  the 
council.  Her  uncles,  George  and  William,  had  been  kings  of 
Hanover  in  the  fatherland,  bul  as  female-  might  not  inherit 
that  crown,  her  uncle,  Ernes)  Duke  of  Cumberland,  inherited 
that     country,    which,    i-iine    the    downfall    of    the    German 

Empire  in  the  Napoleonic  wars,  bad   been  ruled  by  kings 

instead  of  electors,      From  this  ti all  connection  between 

England  and  Hanover  ceased,  and  in  1806  the  latter  kingdom 
became  a  province  of  Pru  sia.  In  l  10  t he  queen  married  her 
German  cousin,  Albert  of  S        I  and  Golha,  a  gentle- 

man of  high  character  and  cultivation,  who  became  very  pop- 


296  Ax  Outline  History  op  Exglaxd. 

nlar  in  England.  Their  twenty-one  years  of  happy  married 
life  were  terminated  by  Lis  death  in  1801. 

"  Chartism  "  and  "  Free  Trade  "  were  the  absorbing  public 
questions  of  Victoria's  earlier  years.  The  reforms  of  1832, 
which  had  horrified  the  aristocracy  and  pleased  the  middle 
class,  were  denounced  as  inadequate  and  partial  by  the  leaders 
of  the  working-men.  The  latter,  perceiving  the  strength 
which  lay  in  numbers,  asked  for  anew  parliamentary  reform 
which  should  admit  them  to  a  share  in  the  government. 
Their  demands,  set  forth  in  a  petition  to  which  the  Irish 
orator,  O'Connell,  gave  the  name  of  the  "  People's  Charter," 
were  as  follows  :  1.  Parliaments  to  be  elected  annually; 
2.  Manhood  suffrage  ;  3.  Vote  by  ballot ;  4.  Abolition  of 
property  qualification  for  membership  in  the  House  of  Com- 
mons ;  5.  Salaries  for  members  of  Parliament,  and  6.  Equal 
electoral  districts.  Nothing  in  the  charter  affrights  the 
present  reader.  In  fact,  three  of  the  points — the  second, 
third,  and  fourth — have  since  been  adopted ;  but  fifty  years 
ago  the  Chartist  demands  were  considered  preposterous  and 
revolutionary.  The  Commons  rejected  the  petition  (June, 
1839),  and  riots  ensued  which  were  forcibly  suppressed.  In 
1848  the  Chartists  again  brought  forward  their  grievances, 
and  London  was  in  such  terror  that  its  citizens  enrolled  them- 
selves for  its  defense,  under  the  conqueror  of  Napoleon. 
The  petition,  with  nearly  two  million  signatures,  was  duly 
presented,  but  there  was  no  rioting.  Wellington  did  not  call 
out  his  troops.  The  scare  blew  over,  and  Chartism,  despite 
the  frantic  appeals  of  its  leaders,  was  laughed  out  of  existence. 

The  Free  Trade  agitation  was  better  managed.  For  the 
"  protection  "  of  the  agriculturists  and  land-owners  of  Great 
Britain  the  culture  of  grain  was  fostered  by  a  set  of  enact- 
ments known  as  "  corn-laws."  These  had  been  imposed  in 
the  reign  of  George  the  Third,  and  their  object  was  to  raise 
the  price  of  domestic  cereals  by  collecting  heavy  duties  upon 
imported  breadstuff s. 


C0N<  LU8ION.  297 

A  group  of  thoughtful  and  able  men,  among  whom  Rich- 
ard Cobden  and  John  Bright  were  foremost,  protested  thai 
such  legislation  was  to  ilu-  advantage  of  the  few  producers 
and  to  the  immense  disadvantage  of  the  more  numerous  con- 
Burners.  l>y  pamphlet  and  newspaper,  at  the  hustings  and  in 
Parliament,  these  men,  who  in  1838  formed  at  Manchester  the 
••  Anti-Corn-Law  League,"  labored  early  and  late  for  the  re- 
moval of  these  restrictions  upon  trade.  The  law-making 
class  was  also  the  land-owning  class,  and  it  was  no  easy  mat- 
ter to  extort  from  them  the  repeal  legislation  for  which  the 
people  at  last  became  clamorous.  The  original  law  of  1815, 
which  practically  Bhut  out  foreign  wheat,  was  modified  in 
lS'2;s  l>y  the  establishment  of  a  "  sliding  scale"  of  duties;  as 
the  prioe  of  domestic  wheat  rose  the  duty  was  diminished 
and  >■>'■■'  versd.     The  Cobdenites  found  most  support  among 

the  Liberals;  and  it  was  to  some  extent  the  fear  that  this 
party  would  bring  in  Free  Trade  that  led  to  its  overthrow  in 
1841,  and  the  second  elevation  of  Sir  Robert  Peel  to  the  head 
of  the  Conservative  ministry,  among  whose  vouneer  mem- 
hers  was  .Mr.  W".  E.  Gladstone.  In  1842  this  new  cabinet 
revised  the  tariff,  renewing  or  reducing  the  duties  upon  many 
articles  and  removing  the  sliding  scale.  Famine  in  Ireland 
won  Free  Trade  for  Great  Britain.  The  failure  of  the  po- 
tato crop  of  1845  convinced  the  prime  minister  that  the 
duties  upon  imported  food  supplies  must  be  repealed.  Lord 
Russell,  the  Liberal  leader,  declared  his  conversion  to  .Mr. 
Cobden's  principle,  " buy  in  the  cheapest  market  and  sell  in 
the  dearest."    Thereupon  Sir  Robert  went  over  to  the  Free 

Trader-,    and  though    many  of    his    own    party  deserted    him 

i  M  r.  Disraeli  among  them )  Ik-  carried,  with  Liberal  assistant 
a  measure  which  not  only  repealed  the  corn-laws  bj  gradual 
reduction  of  duties,  bul  utterly  abandoned  the  protectionist 
theory.  Disraeli,  just  springing  into  prominence  in  the  Con- 
servative party,  wittily  said  of  Peel's  sudden  adoption  of  the 
Wilis  Free  Trade  ideas,  "Peel  caught  the  Whigs  in  bath- 
18* 


298  Ax  Outline  History  of  England. 

ing  and  ran  off  with  their  clothes."  In  June,  1846,  the  hill 
hecame  a  law,  and  at  the  same  time  the  government  was 
voted  down  on  a  question  of  Irish  government.  As  he  re- 
signed his  office  its  leader  addressed  the  Commons  in  an  im- 
pressive  valedictory,  awarding  to  Cohden  the  credit  for  the 
new  law,  and  closing  with  impressive  words:  "The  monopo- 
list might  execrate  me,"  said  Peel,  "  hut  it  may  he  that  I  shall 
he  remembered  with  good-will  in  the  abodes  of  men  whose  lot 
it  is  to  labor  and  to  earn  their  daily  bread  by  the  sweat  of  their 
brow — a  name  to  be  remembered  with  expressions  of  good-will 
when  they  shall  recreate  their  exhausted  strength  with  abun- 
dant and  untaxed  food,  the  sweeter  because  it  is  no  longer 
leavened  with  a  sense  of  injustice."  From  the  repeal  of  the 
corn-laws  dates  the  supremacy  of  Free  Trade  in  Great  Britain. 
After  the  battle  of  Waterloo  England  remained  at  peace 
Avith  European  nations  for  nearly  forty  years.  But  the  rest- 
lessness of  the  Irish  and  the  constant  broils  on  the  distant 
frontiers  of  the  empire  furnished  the  army  with  almost  in- 
cessant employment.  In  the  very  first  year  of  the  reign 
(1837)  a  rebellious  spirit  showed  itself  in  Canada.  The  in- 
surrection was  quelled  with  little  bloodshed  (1839),  and  re- 
forms in  the  government,  begun  in  1840  and  extended  in 
1847,  united  the  Dominion  and  endowed  it  with  substantial 
Home  Rule.  From  1839  to  1842  the  l^al  arms  were  di- 
rected against  China,  a  nation  which  was  resolutely  ojmosed 
to  dealings  with  the  West.  This  "  opium  war  "  was  fought 
in  behalf  of  British  East  India  traders  who  desired  to 
open  the  Chinese  market  to  the  opium  of  India.  As  China 
could  make  no  real  resistance,  England  succeeded  in  forcing 
the  iniquitous  traffic  upon  her.  The  conquerors  seized  Hong 
Kon<r,  and  have  since  held  it  as  a  commercial  and  naval  sta- 
tion.  Other  Chinese  wars  sprang  from  the  ill-blood  then 
engendered.  In  1856  a  vessel,  the  lorcha  Arrow,  flying  the 
British  flag,  was  seized  by  Chinese,  and  a  war  ensued  which 
lasted  with  an  interval  of  peace  until  1860. 


Con<  l.rsiox.  200 

Jealousy  of  Russia  inspired  a  new  and  lasting  dread  in  the 
British  mind.  The  immense  domain  of  the  czar  in  Asia,  and 
his  persistent  efforts  to  extend  Ins  boundaries  toward  the 
south,  alarmed  tin-  government  for  tin.'  safel  y  of  British  India. 

» 

In  1838  England  undertook  to  expel  Dost  Mohammed,  the 
Afghan  prince  or  ameer,  from  his  country  (Afghanistan)  and 
t"  replace  him  with  a  friendly  sovereign.  The  plan  of  inva- 
sion was  at  firsl  successful,  and  Cabul, the  capital,  was  taken, 
lnit  fortune  Boon  changed,  and  the  invaders  were  repeatedly 
beaten,  until  they  were  compelled  to  reinstate  the  dethroned 
sovereign  and  leave  the  country.  The  Afghans  promised 
safe  conduct,  and  in  the  winter  of  1841—1842  the  retreat  to- 
ward India  began.  A  prey  to  cold  and  treachery,  the  army 
was  massacred  in  the  mountain  passes.  Only  one  man,  Dr. 
Brydon,  out  of  the  sixteen  thousand  who  began  the  march, 
lived     to    reach    the   British   camps   at    Jellalahad.      England 

abandoned  her  attempt  to  force  the  obnoxious  sovereign  upon 
an  unwilling  people.  By  a  second  war  (1877-1881)  Great 
Britain  established  more  or  less  firmly  her  influence  among 
the  Afghans. 

The  defense  of  the  empire  which  Clive  and  Hastings  had 
won  in  India  involved  Great  Britain  in  a  succession  of  petty 
wars,  the  object  of  which  was  the  extension  of  the  British 
authoritv  to  the  Himalaya  Mountains,  the  natural  northern 
boundary  of  the  peninsula  of  Hindustan.  Two  wars  with 
the  Sikhs  ended  in  the  conquest  of  the-<Punjab  (1849),  in  the 
north-west,  and  two  campaigns  in  the  north-east  ended  in  the 
annexation  of  British  Burmah  (-1852).  In  1856  the  rich 
province  of  <>udh  came  under  British  rule. 

Closely  connected  with  Indian  affairs  is  the  Eastern  Ques- 
tion, which  early  thrust  itself  upon  the  attention  of  Europe. 
The  rapid  decay  of  the  Ottoman  Empire  and  the  ambition  of 
I ;  issia  were  the  elements  of  the  problem.  The  <  7ar  Nicholas 
remarked  of  Turkey  in  1853,  "We  have  on  our  hands  a 
sick  man — a  very  sick  man;  it  will   be  a  great  misfortune  if 


300  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

one  of  these  days  he  should  slip  away  from  us  before  the 
necessary  arrangements  have  been  made."  For  nearly  forty 
years  the  European  nations  have  been  quarrelling  over  the 
necessary  arrangements.  England  believes  that  the  Russian 
possession  of  Constantinople  would  imperil  her  own  posses- 
sions in  India.  Russia  is  unwilling  to  allow  the  Bosphorus 
— the  outlet  of  Russian  Black  Sea  commerce — to  pass  into 
English  or  Austrian  hands.  So  the  "  sick  man "  is  main- 
tained alive.  In  1853  war  broke  out  between  Russia  and 
Turkey,  the  ostensible  ground  being  the  sultan's  refusal  to 
recognize  the  czar's  claims  as  protector  of  the  Greek  Chris- 
tians in  the  Ottoman  Empire.  Western  Europe  interfered  in 
time  to  save  the  sick  man's  inheritance.  France,  where  the 
nephew  of  Bonaparte  had  recently  made  himself  Emperor 
Napoleon  III.,  and  England  formed  an  alliance  to  aid  the 
Turks.  War  was  declared  in  1854,  and  Lord  Raglan,  a 
pupil  of  Wellington  (who  died,  deeply  lamented,  in  1852), 
was  sent  to  the  Black  Sea  with  a  British  army,  to  co-operate 
with  the  French  in  an  attack  upon  the  Russians  in  the 
Crimea.  They  landed  in  that  peninsula  in  September,  1854, 
defeated  the  Russians  in  the  battle  of  the  Alma,  and  laid 
siege  for  349  days  to  the  fortress  of  Sebastopol.  The 
Russians  made  desperate  efforts  to  beat  them  off,  failing  at 
Balaklava,  October  25,  and  again  at  Inkerman,  November  5. 
In  the  former  engagement  occurred  the  famous  "  charge 
of  the  Light  Brigade,"  when,  by  the  misconstruction  of 
an  order,  a  detachment  of  607  English  cavalrymen  charged 
the  whole  Russian  army.  Only  198  men  rode  back  from 
"  the  wild  charge  they  made."  The  sufferings  of  the  allies 
in  the  trenches  were  terrible;  the  winter's  cold  destroyed 
hundreds  and  the  cholera  of  midsummer  carried  off  thou- 
sands more.  The  story  of  these  miseries  bore  fruit  in  the 
Red  Cross  commission  and  the  labors  of  Miss  Florence 
Nightingale,  the  hospital  nurse.  In  the  autumn  of  1855,  when 
the  siege  had  lasted   nearly  a  year,  the   Russians  evacuated 


Conclusion.  SO] 

the  town,  ami  the  allies  marched  in.  This  virtually  closed 
the  "Crimean  War,"  which  was  formally  terminated  by  the 
Peace  of  Paris  in  March,  185C>,  in  which  Russia  renounced 
her  claims,  and  Turkey  was  given  a  new  lease  of  life. 

In  the  summer  of  1857  England  stood  aghast  at  the  tid- 
bags  from  India.  That  immense  and  populous  empire  \\  as  eoy  ■ 
erned  by  the  East  India  Company,  whose  military  force  con- 
sisted almost  entirely  of  native  troops,  or  " Sepoys,"  officered 
by  Englishmen.  On  Sunday,  May  10,  18.~>7,  the  Sepoys  at 
Meerut  mutinied,  and  killed  their  officers.  The  rumor  had 
spread  among  them  that  the  British  had  designs  on  their  re- 
ligion; that  the  greasy  cartridges  of  their  new  Enfield  rifles 
were  smeared  with  a  mixture  of  cow's  fat  and  hog's  lard — the 
cow  being  the  sacred  animal  of  the  Hindu  and  the  hog  the 
andean  beast  of  the  Mohammedan.  The  mutineers  pro- 
claimed the  native  king  of  Delhi  emperor  of  India,  and 
called  upon  their  countrymen  to  exterminate  the  impious  En- 
glish. General  dissatisfaction  with  the  company's  rule  fed 
the  revolt,  which  rapidly  grew  to  a  fanatical  rebellion.  Be- 
fore troops  could  arrive  from  England  the  worst  had  been 
done.  At  Cawnpore  a  thousand  English  of  both  sexes  and 
all  ages  surrendered  themselves  to  the  tender  mercies  of  the 
merciless  Nana  Sahib.  By  his  orders  the  retreating  garrison 
Were  -hot  down,  and  the  women  weir  held  in  captivity  until 

General  Havelock's  approach,  when  they  were  butchered. 
This  Massacre  of  Cawnpore  took  place  June  27,  L857.  In 
September  the  English  took  Delhi  by  Btorm, and  deposed  the 
.Mogul  emperor.  A  horde  of  rebels  surrounded  Lucknow, 
held   by  Sir   Henry  Lawrence  with  a  few  loyal  soldiers  and 

WW  ■ 

the  English  residents.  In  September  General  Havelock  cut 
his  way  through  the  ring  of  the  besiegers  and  broughl  timely 
relief  to  the  garrison.     Bui  the  ring  closed   up  behind  him, 

and  his  lit  1 1  <•  army  u  ed  IV massacre  two  months  later 

by  the  arrival  of  Sir  Colin  Campbell  with  troops  fresh  from 
England.     The  taking  of   LucknoM  in  March,  L 858,  put  an 


302  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

end  to  the  mutiny.  Parliament  relieved  the  East  India  Com- 
pany of  all  its  share  in  the  government  of  the  Indian  Empire", 
and  on  September  1,  1858,  the  sovereignty  of  the  queen  was 
proclaimed  throughout  the  peninsula.  Thirty  years  later 
(January  1,  1877)  the  title  "Empress  of  India"  was  added 
to  the  queen's  dignities. 

The  acute  disorder  in  India  was  easier  to  bear  than  the 
chronic  malady  of  Irish  discontent.  Irish  land,  Irish  religion, 
and  Irish  politics  have  been  the  triple  source  of  multifarious 
trouble.  From  Strongbow's  first  invasion  of  the  island  down 
to  this  present  year  of  Grace,  there  is  scarcely  a  year  when 
Ireland  and  England  have  been  in  harmony.  At  the 
opening  of  Victoria's  reign  the  Irish  clouds  were  full  of 
menace.  Daniel  O'Connell,  who  had  led  the  agitation  for 
Catholic  emancipation  in  the  last  years  of  George  IV.,  prom- 
ised his  countrymen  that  the  early  years  of  Victoria  should 
witness  the  "repeal  of  the  union  " — meaning  the  repeal  of  the 
act  of  1800,  which  united  Ireland  with  Great  Britain  under 
the  control  of  Parliament.  The  Roman  Catholics — live 
sixths  of  the  Irish  nation — had  never  become  reconciled  to 
the  union,  and  the  priests  and  bishops  of  that  Church  became 
O'Connell's  most  active  lieutenants  in  the  "  repeal  campaign." 
His  magic  eloquence  stirred  Irish  patriotism  to  its  depths. 
The  old  Celtic  hatred  of  the  Saxon  flamed  up  once  more, 
and  in  the  re-establishment  of  the  Parliament  at  Dublin  they 
hoped  to  find  a  balm  for  all  their  wounds.  In  1843  the  Brit- 
ish government  broke  up  his  meetings.  When  the  Irish  people 
found  that  their  leader  would  not  fight  for  Ireland's  liberties, 
they  deserted  him. 

The  failure  of  the  island's  single  crop  (potatoes)  brought 
famine  in  its  train  (1S4G-1S57),  and,  as  the  promises  of 
O'Connell  faded,  the  Irish  felt  their  miseries  increase.  The 
spirit  of  the  times — the  year  1848  was  marked  by  "liberal" 
uprisings  in  half  the  kingdoms  of  Europe— taught  the  more 
ardent   Irishmen    to  win  by   foree  the   independence  which 


Con.  i.i  BIOK.  803 

O'Connell'a  eloquence  had  failed  to  Becure.  "Young  Ire- 
land" was  organized  in  the  name  of  liberty  by  Smith 
O'Brien,  Mitchell,  Meagher,  and  other  hot-headed  Celts, 
fresh  from  college  or  active  in  journalism.  Their  reck- 
less newspaper  attacks  upon  the  British  government  com- 
pelled the  authorities  to  Buppress  them.  Some  powder 
was  burned  by  the  followers,  bul  very  little  blood  was 
spilled.  The  leaders  of  this  "Rebellion  of  '48"  were  con- 
demned for  treason  and  transported  to  Australia,  whence  they 
afterward  escaped,  Secret  brotherhoods  sprang  up  in  the 
wake  <>t'  the  Young  Ireland  agitation,  the  most  successful  of 
all  being  the  Fenian  Association,  bearing  the  historic  name 
of  the  militia  of  ancient  Ireland.  This  organization  flour- 
ished between  L858and  1867,  and  was  especially  aided  bythe 
Irish-American  soldiers  of  the  American  Civil  War.  Its 
head-quarters  were  in  the  United  States,  and  the  contributions 
of  Irish-Americans  furnished  it  with  the  sinews  of  war.  In 
1867  an  attempt  was  made  to  raise  Ireland  in  a  general  insur- 
rection, bul  it  failed  utterly  ;  the  execution  <>f  a  few  prisoners 
ami  the  temporary  suspension  of  the  habeas  corpus  act  re- 
stored the  appearance  of  peace  in  the  Emerald  Isle. 

Mr.  William   Ewart  Gladstone  became  prime  minister  in 
L868, and  inaugurated  a  new  method  of  dealing  with  Ireland. 

II  -    policy  was  not    to   allow  Ireland    to    rule  herself,  but    to 

rule  her  In  accordance  with  Irish  ideas.  In  L 86 9,  the  State 
Church  of  Ireland,  which  had  been  forced  upon  an  unwilling 
nation  at  the  time  of  the  English  Reformation,  was  disestab- 
lished. Its  government  Bupport  was  removed, and  it  sank  to 
the  condition  of  the  Roman  Catholic,  Presbyterian, and  Wes- 
leyan  denominations,  as  Bimply  a  free  and  independent  organ- 
ization. This  measure  provoked  the  bitterest  denunciations 
from  the  Irish  Protestants.  The  next  year  .Mr.  Gladstone 
attacked  the  Irish  land  tenure  system.  lli>  land  law  of  l 
recognized  that  the  tenant  had  some  right  to  his  holding,  and 
iim-i  be  compensated  for  any  improvements  which  he  might 


304  An  Outline  History  of  England. 

make.  Yet  Ireland  was  not  satisfied  with  these  concessions  ; 
the  cry  of  "Home  Rule" — the  restoration  of  the  Irish  Par- 
liament— once  raised  by  O'Connell,  repeated  in  the  British 
Parliament  by  Mr.  Butt  (1870),  and  afterward  (1880)  by  Mr. 
Parnell.  In  188G  Mr.  Gladstone  became  a  convert  to  Home 
Rule,  and  resigned  his  office  in  consequence  of  his  defeat  on 
the  question  in  Parliament.  Coupled  with  the  Home  Rule 
agitation  was  a  plea  for  further  reforms  in  the  land-tenure 
system,  but  no  satisfactory  result  has  been  attained,  and  the 
Irish  question,  despite  the  Liberal  physicians  and  the  Con- 
servative surgeons,  remains  an  open  sore. 

Since  the  Sepoy  mutiny  the  British  colonies  have  pros- 
pered without  serions  trouble  to  the  mother  country.  The 
government  of  Canada  has  been  consolidated  and  improved, 
and  the  Australian  colonies  have  become  populous  and  pros- 
perous States.  By  wars  with  the  natives,  the  boundaries  of 
the  British  settlements  in  South  Africa  have  been  extended. 
In  Northern  Africa  Great  Britain  has  gained  control  of  the 
Suez  Canal,  and  exercises  a  protectorate  over  Egypt.  The 
British  Empire  comprises  9,250,000  square  miles,  inhabited 
by  325,000,000  people. 

The  legislation  of  the  reign  covers  a  wide  field.  Cheap 
postage  and  postal  telegraphy,  the  extension  of  inland  and 
foreign  commerce  by  means  of  railroads  and  fast  steam-ships, 
the  great  advance  in  all  departments  of  manufacture  have 
given  the  government  a  new  set  of  problems  to  deal  with. 
Peel's  Reform  Bill  of  1832  has  been  twice  extended.  In  1807 
the  Conservative  ministry,  in  which  Lord  Derby  was  chief, 
with  Mr.  Disraeli  as  leader  in  the  Commons,  carried  a  reform 
bill  Avhich  was  characterized  as  "  a  leap  in  the  dark."  It 
greatly  lowered  the  property  qualification  for  voters,  fran- 
chising in  boroughs  all  householders  who  paid  poor  tax,  and 
lodgers  paying  at  least  £10  yearly  rent.  County  voters 
must  hold  property  worth  £5  a  year,  or  occupy  lands  or  tene- 
ments of  at  least  £12  yearly  rental.     This  act  admitted  work- 


(On.  i.i  BION. 

ing-men  to  full  political  rights.  "  Now  we  musl  educate  the 
men  whom  we  have  made  our  masters,"  said  a  member  of 
Parliament.  In  1S70  the  Gladstone  governmenl  established 
;i  national  public  school  Bystem  throughout  England  and 
Wales,  iii  l s 7 1  the  same  administration  abolished  the  pur- 
chase of  < imissions  in  the  army,  and  in    L 872  substituted 

secret  ballot  for  the  open  method  of  voting  for  members  of 
Parliament.  In  Mr.  Gladstone's  second  ministry  (lsso-i.ss.yj 
a  new  reform  bill  made  the  elective  franchise  equal  through- 
out England,  Wales,  Scotland,  and  Ireland;  adding  two 
million  to  the  number  of  voters,  and  bringing  the  whole  num- 
ber uj)  to  live  million,  and  making  the  governmenl  of 
Great  Britain  more  than  ever  "a  government  of  the  people, 
by  the  people,  and  for  the  people." 


INDEX 


Acre,  Siege  of,  104. 

Acts   of   Parliament:    Corporation,   244; 

Uniformity,    244  ;    Conventicle,    244  ; 

Five-Mile,  244;    Test.  248;    Habeas 

Corpus,    249;    Mutiny,    258;    Bill    of 

Rights,     258;     Triennial,    222,    202; 

Settlement,    272;    Schism,    269,    270; 

Riot,  272 ;    Septennial,   273 ;    Stamp, 

280  ;  Boston  Port  Bill,  281. 
Addington,  Ministry,  287. 
Afghanistan,  299. 
Agricola,  Cn.  J.,  37. 
Aidan,  53. 

Albert,  Prince-Consort,  295. 
Albion,  30. 

Alfred  the  Great,  02,  73. 
Alliance,  Triple,  247;  Grand,  200;  Holy, 

292. 
Alva,  Duke  of,  193, 196. 
Amiens,  Mise  of,  117. 
Angles,  43. 

Anglesey,  14;  Druid-seat,  35,  30. 
Anlaf,  05. 

Anne,  Queen,  204 ;  death  of,  270. 
Anne  Boleyn,  107,  173. 
Annus  Mirabilis,  240. 
Anselm,  89. 
Antoninus,  39. 
Argyle,  Duke  of,  223,  252. 
Armada,  The  Spanish,  199. 
Armed  Neutrality,  The,  282. 
Arrest  of  Ave  members,  224. 
Arrow,  The  lorcha,  298. 
Arthur,  44. 

Arthur  of  Brittany,  102;  death,  108. 
Articles  of  Religion,  forty-two,  181. 
Aryan  family,  28. 
Aske,  Robert,  170. 
Assize,  of  Arms,  100;  of  Clarendon,  100; 

of  Northampton,  100;    The  '-Bloody," 

253. 
Athelstan,  65. 
Augsburg,  League  of,  200. 

Bacon,  Francis,  Lord,  208,  209. 

Bacon,  Roger,  118. 

Battles:  Baden  Hill,  44;  Deorham,  45; 
Heaven's  Field,  52;  Winwaed,  53; 
Burford,  50  ;  Hengestesdun,  00  ;  Ash- 
dune,  02;  Brunauburgh,  66:  Stam- 
ford Bridge,  70;  Hastings  (or  Senlac), 
76;  Bouvines,  109;  Lewes,  117;  Ever- 
sham,  117;  Stirling,  122;  Falkirk, 
122;    Bannockburn,    120;     Borough- 


bridge,  126;  Crecy,  130;  Neville's 
Cross,  131 ;  Poitiers,  132 ;  Navarete, 
133;  Agincourt,  144;  Verneuil,  147; 
Wakefield,  152;  St-  Albans,  152; 
Northampton,  152;  Towton,  152; 
Tewkesbury,  154  ;  Hexham,  154  ;  Bos- 
worth  Field,  158;  Guinegate,  105; 
Flodden  Field,  105;  Solway  Moss,  170; 
Pinkie,  179;  Zutphen,  198;  Newburn, 
220;  Edgehill,  225;  Marston  Moor, 
220;  Newbury,  227;  Naseby,  228; 
Philiphaugh,  228  ;  Stow,  228  ;  Preston 
Pans,  230 ;  Dunbar,  232  ;  Worcester 
232;  Sedgemoor,  253;  Killiecrankie, 
25S  ;  Newtown  Butler,  259  ;  the  Boyne, 
260;  the  Hogue,  260;  Neerwenden, 
202;  Blenheim,  206;  Rami  Hies,  266: 
Oudenard,  207;  Malplaquet,  267; 
Sheriflmuir,  273;  Preston  Pans,  275; 
Falkirk,  275;  Culloden,  275;  Minden, 
277;  Montreal,  277;  Plassy,  277; 
Lexington,  Concord,  281  ;  Bunker's 
Hill,  281  ;  Saratoga,  282 ;  Yorktown, 
282;  Cape  St.  Vincent,  286;  Camper- 
down,  286;  Vinegar  Hill,  280:  Nile, 
286;  Marengo,  2S6 ;  Hohenlinden, 
280;  Baltic,  287;  Trafalgar,  289; 
Austerlitz,  289 ;  Talavera,  289  ;  Leip- 
zig, 290  ;  Waterloo,  290 ;  New  Orleans, 
291;  the  Alma,  300;  Balaklava,  300 ; 
Inkerman,  300. 

Ball,  John,  138. 

Balliol,  John,  120. 

Batik  of  England,  262. 

Barebones  Parliament,  234. 

Baronets,  208. 

Baxter,  Richard,  244. 

Beaufort,  Bishop  Henry,  140. 

Beaufort,  Edmund,  150. 

Becket,  Thomas,  98. 

Bede,  "  The  Venerable,"  56. 

Benevolences,  153,  163,  208. 

Berlin  decree,  The,  289. 

Bernicia,  45. 

Bertha,  Queen  of  Kent,  50. 

Bible,  King  James's  version,  206. 

Bill  of  Rights,  258. 

Bishops,  excluded  from  Lords,  221. 

Bishops  rejected.  Scottish,  218,  219. 

Bishops'  Wars,  219,220. 

Brack  Death.  138. 

Black  Prince,  Edward,  130,  135. 

Blake,  Admiral,  233. 

Boadicea,  30. 


IXDEX. 


307 


Bombardment  of  Copenhagen, 
Bonaparte,  Napoleon,  86 
Bonner,  Blood;  Bishop,  186. 
Bothwell,  Karl  of,  198. 
Buckingham  beheaded,  158. 
Bunyan,  J<'lm,  288,  84  I. 
Burgh,  Hubert  de,  118. 
Burke,  Edmund,  880. 
Bute,  Lord, 
Braddock'a  campaign,  8i i . 

la,  Declaration  of,  340;  Treaty  of ,  846. 
Bretwalda,  16. 
Bright,  John,  887. 

13. 
Hi  ii. ins.  88 :  In  i 
Brownlsta, 
Bruce,  Robert,  130;  the  Younger,  124. 

I?n David,  189. 

Branswlck-Loneburg,  871. 

Cabal  ministry,  847, 
Cadwallon,  5i 
. 

ur  in  Britain,  81. 
Camulodunum. 

-  taken,  131  ;  lost,  ' 
Caledonia, 

Campian,  The  Jesuit,  I 
Canada  acquired,  I 
(  annlng,  < rge,  898. 

■•  i hum  Tales,  136. 
rbury,  Archbishopric  of,  BO. 
Canute,  !  I. 
Cape  of  Good  H"i>.-. 

r,  Lucius,  Lord  Falkland,  28L 
Caroline,  Queen  ->f  England,  8!  i. 
Carr,  Robert,  Karl  of  Somerset, 208. 

relaunuH, 
Catharine,  Queen  of  Charles  11.,  845. 

:  Ine  of  Aragon,  164,  16i 
Catherine  de  Medici,  190. 
catholic  Emancipation, 
Cavaliers, 

•       a  pore,  Massacre  "f. 
i 

i  ecll,  William,  Lord  Burleigh,  190. 
i 

(.•nil.,  il. 
■ 

::.':  beheaded,  . 
■     tries  II.  >.f  England,  282;  restored,  840; 

marriage,  245  ;  deal  b,  250. 
1  i  dward  Btuart,  -'•■<■ 

es  v.,  106,  188. 

II.  of  Krance.  140. 
Gall  lard,  100,  : 
Chartism, 

180. 

.    I '      I 
Churchill,  J.iiin.  250;  treachery,  261. 
i       ■  ndon,  i  urMtlLiitlon 
Clarendon   Edward    Hyde,   Earl  of,  244, 
846. 

i?nre,  Dukeof,  154,  155. 
Claudius, 


Claverhouse,  Oraliam  of,  253 ;  death,  8 

Clement  vii.,  Pope,  167. 

Climate,  17. 

Cllve,  Robert,  877. 

(  loth  of  Gold,  The  Field  <>f  the,  10(5. 

Oobden,  Richard,  297. 

Cobbett,  William.  '. 

t  oke,  Sir  Edward,  209. 

Commonwealth  established,  881. 

'•  Conformity,  < Iccaslonal,"  ::. 

Congress,  Continental,  281. 

sei  railves,  894. 

••(  ontlnental  System,"  The,  8J  . 

Conventicle  Act,  844, 

« ''>m  entlon, 

Cook,  Captain  James,  88  I. 

Corn  i-ius,  296;  repeal  "f,  897. 

Corporation  Act,  844. 

Courtenay,  Henry,  of  Exeter,  171. 

urn.  The  Scottish,  819  ;  taken  in  En- 
gland, 886. 

Covenanters,  Persecution  of, 252. 

Coverdale's  Bible,  L78. 

Cranmer,  Archbishop,  168,  179,  185. 

Crimean  War,  800. 

Cromwell,  Oliver,  818,  817;  colonel,  825; 
army  leader,  830;  In  Ireland  and 
Scotland,  838;  Lord  Protector,  835; 
death,  ! 

Cromwell,  Richard,  ~S7. 

Cromwell,  Thomas,  168. 

Crusades,  First,  90. 

Cumberland,  Duke  "f.  275. 

Cumberland,  Ernest,  Duke  of,  295. 

Cunobelln,  85. 

i  luthred,  56, 

Cymri,  89. 

Cynric,  14. 


Danby,  Thomas  Osborne,  Karl  of,  848, 

Dane  geld,  to. 

Dane-law,  63,  65. 

Danes,  56;  In  Ireland,  60;  In  England 

massacre  "f.   ;  i  ;   conquer    Engl 

71. 
Darnley,  Henry,  Lord,  192. 
Declaration  of  Libert)  "(  Conscience, 

854. 
Declaration  of  Rights,  2 
Defender  of  the  Faith,  I' 
Delra,  45. 

Despenser,  Hugh  le,  185. 
Devereuz,  Robert,  Earl  of  Essex,  200, 
Dlsesl  iblishmenl  "f  Irish  <  hurcb,  808. 

i  II,  Benjamin, 
Divine  Rlghl  of  Kings, 
Divorce  of  Henn  \  ill..  II 
Ditonwdau  lti»> 
Douglas,  James, 
Dover,  Becrel  treaty  "f,  847. 
Drake,  Blr  Frani 
in-'.).'!,  mlng  of,  - 

Druids,  •'{■'). 
Dry  den,  John,  846 
Dudley,    John,     I  irl    of    Wat  wick 

Northumberland,  I 


255. 


60  : 

ami. 


The, 


201. 


and 


308 


Index. 


Dudley,  Robert,  Earl  of  Leicester,  19". 
Dudley,  Lord  Guilford,  182. 
Dunkirk,  Sale  of,  215. 
Dupleix,  276. 

East  Anglia,  45 ;  conversion  of,  51. 

East  India  Company,  202. 

Eastern  Question,  The,  299. 

Ecclesiastical  courts,  98. 

Edbald  of  Northumlria,  52. 

Edgar,  69. 

Edgar  the  Atheling,  75. 

Edith,  74. 

Edmund  Ironside,  71. 

Edmund  of  Langley,  Duke  of  York,  138. 

Edmund  the  Magnificent,  67. 

Edred,  67. 

Edward  the  Confessor,  73. 

Edward  the  Elder,  64. 

Edward  I.,  "  Longshanks,"  117;  death, 
124. 

Edward  the  Martyr,  70. 

Edward  II.,  of  Carnarvon,  124,  127. 

Edward  III.,  of  Windsor,  127. 

Edward  IV.,  152. 

Edward  V.,  156. 

Edward  VI.,  173,  177. 

Edward,  son  of  Henry  VI.,  150,  155. 

Edwin  of  Northumberland,  51. 

Edwin  and  Morcar,  Revolt  of,  79. 

Edwy,  68. 

Egbert  of  Wessex,  57. 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Bohemia,  209,  21 1. 

Elizabeth,  Queen  of  Henry  VII.,  156,  157, 
160. 

Elizabeth,  Queen,  169,  173, 187,  198,  202. 

Eliot,  Sir  John,  213.  213,  215. 

Ella,  South  Saxon  King,  44. 

Emma  of  Normandy,  71. 

Emperor  and  Dudley,  164. 

English,  43 ;  religion,  46 ;  government, 
47;  conversion  of,  50;  system  com- 
pared with  Norman,  80. 

Essex,  45  ;  conversion  of,  50. 

Ethelbald  of  Wessex,  60. 

Ethelbert  of  Kent,  50. 

Ethelburga  of  Northumberland,  51. 

Ethelfled,  64. 

Ethelred  of  Mercia,  63. 

Ethelred  I.  of  Wessex,  60. 

Ethelred  II.,  the  Unready,  70. 

Ethelwolf  of  Wessex.  00. 

Eugene,  Prince  of  Savoy,  266. 

Excise  Tax,  274. 

Fairfax,  Sir  Thomas,  226,  237. 
Famine  in  Ireland,  297. 
Fawkes,  Guy,  207. 
Fenian  Association,  303. 
Feudal  System,  The,  82. 
Finch,  Speaker,  215. 
Fisher,  Bishop  of  Rochester,  169. 
Five-Mile  Act,  214. 
Fitz-Osbern,  William,  79. 
Fox,  Charles  James,  282. 
Frederick  the  Great,  275. 


Free  Trade,  296. 
Friars,  118. 

Gaels,  29. 

Gardiner,  Bishop,  176,  179. 

Gaunt,  John  of,  133, 140. 

Gaveston,  Piers,  125. 

Geddes,  Jenny,  218. 

Genealogies  :  Norman  Dukes,  79  :  House 
of  Cerdic,  61 ;  English  sovereigns, 
9-12 ;  Danish  kings,  71 ;  House  of 
Godwin,  74;  Edward's  claim  to 
French  crown,  130 ;  Descent  of 
Henry  IV.,  141 ;  Lancaster  and  York, 
151 ;  Spanish  succession,  263 ;  Han- 
over or  Brunswick,  271. 

Geoffrey,  son  of  Henry  II.,  101. 

George  I.,  269  ;  died,  274. 

George  II.,  274. 

George  III.,  278 ;  death  of,  291. 

George  IV.,  regent,  284 ;  king,  291;  death, 

George,  Prince  of  Denmark,  251,  264. 

Gibraltar  taken,  266,  269. 

Gladstone,  W.  E.,  297. 

Glencoe,  Massacre  of,  259. 

Glendower,  142. 

Godiva,  73. 

Godolphin,  Lord,  266,  268. 

Godwin,  73. 

Gordon,  Lord  George,  283. 

Grand  Alliance,  260;  renewed,  264. 

Grand  Jury,  100. 

Grattan's  Parliament,  278. 

Great  Britain,  15. 

Great  Contract,  The,  207. 

Gregory  VII.  (Hildebrand),  84. 

Gregory  the  Great,  50. 

Grenviile,  Lord  George,  2S0. 

Grey,  Lady  Jane,  164,  183. 

Grey,  Lady  Elizabeth,  154. 

Gutnrum  the  Dane,  63. 

Gwyu,  Nell,  250. 

Habeas  Corpus  Act,  249. 

Hadrian,  38. 

Hampden,  John,  213,  210,  231. 

Hampton  Court  Conference,  205. 

Hanover,  269;  Genealogy,  271. 

Hanover,  separated  from  England,  295. 

Hardicanute,  72. 

Harley,  Robert,  208,  273. 

Harold,  72. 

Harold,  son  of  Godwin,  75. 

Harold  Hardrada,  76. 

Hastings  the  Dane,  63. 

Hastings,  Warren,  283. 

Hawkins,  John,  197. 

Hengist  and  Horsa,  43. 

Henrietta  Maria,  Queen  of  Charles  I.,  211, 

212. 
Henry  III.  (of  Winchester),  113. 
Henry  IV.  (of  Bolingbroke),  140. 
Henry  V.  (of  Monmouth),  143. 
Henry  VI.,  145,  149;  death,  155. 
Henry  VII.  (of  Richmond),  157, 163. 


Index. 


Henry  vill.,  188  ;  divorce,  Iffi  ;  death,  176. 

Henry,  the  Young  King,  101. 

Heptarchy,  The  Saxon, 

Heresy,  Btatnte  of,  148. 

Here  ward, 

Hlbernia, 

High   Commission,   Court   of.    196,   217; 

abolished,  822. 
Hill.  Abigail  (Lady  Masbam),  868. 
Holland,  Wats  with,  345,  Sir. 
Hi.|\  I'll'',  105. 

II     J  Isli  .  15. 

iu Rule,  Irish,  804. 

Hong  Kong,  -' 

Honorius,  W. 

Hotspur,  l  u. 

Howard,  Admiral,  Lord,  199, 

Howard,  Catharine,  l<  i. 

Huguenots,  190,  191;  In  England.  •Jtt. 

Hundred  rears'  War.  Thel  129,  148. 

Hyde,  Edward  [see  Clarendon];   audi', 

wire  « if  James  II.. 

I'li/V-  King,  45. 

Impositions,  i 

Independence,  Declaratlou  of,  881. 
India  Company,  British  East,  chartered, 
_. «  onquer  Bengal,  -7r. 

Indulgence,  Declaration  cf,  -17,  '.'IS 
I  lie.  '    . 

Innocent  III..  108. 

Instrument  of  Government,  the,  885. 

loua,  11;  St.  Columba  at, 

Ireland,  and  Henry  II.,  100;  Btrongbow, 

mi :  inion  of  England  and,  887. 
Ireton, 

Irish  Rebellion  of  Mf 
Ironsides,  Cromw< 
Isabella,  Infanta  of  Spain,  809,  811. 
Jacobite,  988;   rising  "f  '15,  878;  rising 

ol    ■ 
Jamaica,  I 
Jam.--  i.  born,  198;  King  of  Bco 

Klnifof  England,  208. 
James  II.,  Duke  of  Fork,  240;  in  navy,  846; 

resigns,  848 ;  recalled,  860;  knit;,  851; 

dep  died,  864, 

James  Francis  Edward  smart  born,  854. 
Jennings,  Barab  (Churchill),  866. 

B. 
Joan  Of  Are.  1  17. 
John,  101;  king,  107;  quarrel  wltb  pope, 

■ :  death,  in. 
John,  Duke  ol  Bedford,  146. 
Junius,  Letters  "f.  ! 

Jlite- 

k'-nt,  Landing  Of   H., mail',  in.  'II  ;    Jutlsh 

kingdom  of,  I 
Robert,    - 
"King-maker,  The,"  See  Warwick,  154. 

Kllke's  Ijlllllrv 

K 1 1 ■•  x ,  John,  i 

Laboran 

Lancaster,  II.ju.v;  of,  101. 


ister,  Thomas,  Earl  of,  185, 
Land  law,  Irish, 

I  language,  Rise  ol  English,  185. 
Langton,  Archbishop  Stephen, 
Lanfranc,  84. 
Latimer,  Hugh,  180,  185. 
Laud,  Archbishop,  815,  888,  8 
League,  The,  197. 
I  e  i  i\ '.,  Pope,  68. 
Leofrli 

Liberals,  294. 

Lichfield,  Archbishopric  of,  67. 
Light  Brigade,  Charge  ol 
Lindisfame,  53,  55. 
Lionel,  Duke  of  clarence,  187. 
Lollards,  186;  laws  against,  148, 
Londlnlum, 

London,  lire,  866;  plague,  886. 
Londonderry,  Siege  of, 
Longcbamp,  William,  104. 
Long  Parliament,  elected,  281  :  purged, 
:  dissolved,  884;  finally  dissolved, 

I,or<ls.  House  of,  abolished,  280. 

LOUlS  XIV..  945;  pensions  Charles  II  ,','17; 

subsidizes  James  II.,  258. 
Lucknow,  Defense  of,  301. 
Luddites,  891. 
Luther,  Martin,  171. 


Magna  Cbarta,  110. 

Major-Generals,  The,  236. 

Manchester  massacre.  The.  ■:  : 

Mansfield's  expedition,  211. 

Manufactures,  884. 

Mar.  Karl  of,  278. 

Margaret,  queen  of  Henry  vl,  149,  158. 

Margaret  the  Atbellng,  75,  89. 

Marlborough,  see  Churchill,  365,  969. 

Marshall,  William,  118. 

Mary,  Queen  of  scots,  168,  176,  r88,  198, 

193,  198. 
Mary,  Queen  of  England,  169,  178,  187. 
Mary,  daughter  of  James  II.,  marriage, 

248  :  queen,  85'  :  death.  2(12. 
Mary  of  Modena,  queen  of  .lames  il,  951. 
Massachusetts  Day  Colony,  216, 
Mercla,  15  ;  conversion  of, 
Meth  Ival,  The, 

Middlesex,  15. 
Milton,  John.  244 
Monasi  I   169. 

Monk,  General,  238,  284,  289,  945. 
Monmouth,  Duke  of,  849:  expedition,  958, 
Monopolies  abandoned,  908, 
Montague,  861. 
Montfort,  Blmon  de,  115. 
Montrose,  Marquis  of,  826, 
Moore,  -ir  John 
Moi   .  Rli  Thomas,  169. 
Mortimer,  Anne,  150. 

ner,  Edmund,  i  II. 
Mortimer,  Roger,  i 
"  Morton's  Fork," 
Miitln. 


310 


Index. 


Nana  Sahib,  301. 

Nantes,  Revocation  of  Edict  of,  253. 

Newfoundland,  269. 

New  Model,  The,  888,  240. 

Newspapers,  262. 

New  York  taken  from  Dutch,  245. 

Nightingale,  Florence,  300. 

Nimeguen,  Treaty  of.  248. 

"  No  Popery  "  riots,  283. 

Non-jurors,  257. 

Norfolk,  Duke  of,  174. 

Normans  in  Europe,  The,  78. 

North,  Lord,  281. 

Northumbria,  45  ;  conversion  of,  51. 

Nova  Scotia,  269. 

Oates,  Titus,  248. 
O'Connell,  Daniel,  292,  302. 
Odo  of  Bayeux,  79,  86,  88. 
Offa,  56. 

Oldcastle,  Sir  John,  143. 
Opium  War,  298. 
"  Ordainers,"  The,   25. 
Orders  in  Council,  289. 
Ordinances,  224. 
Ostorius,  36. 

Oswald,  king  of  Northumbria,  52. 
Oswy  of  Northumberland,  53. 
"  Other  House,  The,"  237. 
Oxford,  Provisions  of,  116 ;  University  of, 
118. 

Palmerston,  Lord,  295. 

Pandulf,  109,  111,  114. 

Paradise  Lost,  244. 

Parsons,  the  Jesuit,  195. 

Parker,  Archbishop,  189. 

Parliament,  Great,  so-called,  115;  Mont- 
fort's,  117;  of  Edward  I.,  123;  in  two 
Houses,  123;  the  Merciless,  139  ;  the 
Addled,  207  ;  the  Short,  220 ;  Long, 
221;  Rump,  230;  Barebones,  234; 
Corruption  of,  279. 

Parr,  Catherine,  176. 

"  Patriots,  Seven,"  The,  255. 

Paulinus,  Suetonius,  36. 

Peel,  Sir  Robert,  293. 

Pelham,  Cabinet  of,  275,  276. 

Penda,  king  of  Mercia,  52. 

Peninsular  War,  289. 

Pennine  Chain,  15. 

Petition,  Millenary,  The,  204. 

Petition  of  Rights,  The,  214. 

Petre,  253. 

Philip  II.  of  Spain,  184,  186,  187. 

Picts,  39. 

Pilgrimage  of  Grace,  107. 

Pilgrim's  Progress,  244. 

Pitt,  W.,  Lord  Chatham,  276,  278,  280. 

Pitt,  W.  (the  Young),  2s3,  288. 

Plautius,  Aulus,  35. 

Plots:  Ridolfl's,  194;  Babington's,  108; 
Gunpowder,  206;  Popish,  248;  Rye 
House,  250;  Cato  Street.  292. 

Popish  Plot,  248. 

Praemunire,  Statute  of,  141. 


Prayer-book,  English,  ISO. 

Presbyterian  ism,  Established  in  England, 

226,  227. 
Presbyterians,  205  ;  Scottish,  218,  222. 
Pretender,  The  Young,  275. 
Pretender,   The   Old,   264,  268,   272,   227, 

275. 
Pride's  Purge,  230. 
"  Protestation,  The,"  210. 
Prvnne,  William,  217. 
Puritans,  194,  204. 
Pym,  John,  213, 221,  223. 
Pytheas,  30. 

Ragnor,  Lodbrog,  26. 

Raleigh,  Sir  Walter,  201,  210. 

Ranulf,  Flambard,  88. 

Ranulf,  Glanville,  102. 

Redwald,  of  East  Anglia,  51. 

Reform  Bill,  294. 

Reformation,  English,  168, 172,  180. 

Remonstrance,  The  Grand,  223. 

Restoration,  240. 

Revolution,  The  French,  285. 

Revolution  of  '88,  257. 

Richard  I.,  101 ;  king,  103  ;  death,  107. 

Richard  II.,  137. 

Richard  III.,  155,  158. 

Richard,  Duke  of  York,  150. 

Richard,  "  King  of  the  Romans,"  115. 

Ridley,  180,  185. 

Rizzio,  Murder  of,  193. 

Robert,  Duke  of  Normandy,  85,  90. 

Roches,  Peter  des,  113. 

Rochelle,  Expedition  to,  213. 

Rockingham,  Ministry,  280,  281. 

Rogers,  John,  185. 

Roman   Invasion,   81 ;    Conquest,    35-38'; 

Evacuation,  40  ;  Influence,  41. 
Roses,  Wars  of  the,  150, 158. 
Roundheads,  225. 

Rump,  The,  230,  231,  234  ;  dissolved,  239. 
Rupert,  Prince,  225,  226,  246. 
Runnymede,  110.  , 

Russell,  Lord  John,  294. 
Rye  House  Plot,  250. 

St.  Augustine,  50. 

St.  Bartholomew,  Massacre  of,  196. 

St.  Chad,  53. 

St.  Cuthbert,  53. 

St.  Dunstan,  68. 

St.  Edmund,  62. 

St.  John,  Henry,  Lord  Bolingbroke,  268, 
272 

St.  Patrick,  49. 

Saint's  Rest,  244. 

Sarsfleld,  Patrick,  260. 

Saxons,  39. 

Scone,  Stone  of,  121. 

Scotland,  22 ;  tief  of  England,  102 ;  inde- 
pendent, 104. 

Scots,  39. 

Scutage,  09. 

Sebastopol,  Siege  of,  300. 

Seminary  Priests,  195. 


Index. 


;;l  l 


Separatists.  10.".. 
Sepoy  Revolt,  The,  301. 
-   ..-ti  Bishops,"  Tl  •-.  25*. 

-  'in.  16. 

iour,  Edward, 
Seymour,  Jane, 
Shaftesbury,  Ashley  Cooper,  Karl  of.  847, 

848,  - 
Sheridan,  Riehard  Brinsley,  388. 
Ship-money,  The,  816. 
Shir.--.  ]-. 

Shrewsbury,  Duke  of,  -TO. 
Bldney,  Sir  Philip, 
Simnel,  Lambert,  161. 
Siwal.l.  ;.'. 

-  \  Articles,  178;  repeal,  180. 

ery  abolished, 
e-trade  abolished,  i 

i  dward  Seymour.) 
Sophia  "f  Hanover, 
South  Be*  Bubble,  269,  -'~}. 
"Spurs,  The  Battle  of  the,"  166. 
Stafford,  Edward,  166. 

lumber,  168,  816;  abolished, 
lenge,  84, 
Strafford  (see  Wentwortb). 
Btrathclyde,  46:  conquered, 66. 
Sunderland,  -' 

.11. 
Bweyn,  71. 

"Tables,  The," 

Talbot,  Richard,  Barl of  Tyrconnel,  850. 

Taylor.  Rowland,  186. 

Temple,  sir  William,  847. 

Act,  248. 
Thames,  16,  81. 

M  .11,  -Ml. 

lore  "'  Tarsus, 
Tbeodostus,  W. 
Theresa,  Empress  Maria. 
Thirty-nine  Articles,  The,  198. 
Thin  v  rears'  War,  810. 
Tblstlewond,  Arthur,  8 
"  Thorough,"  Stafford's  policy  of, 
Tlllmrv.  Elizabeth's  speech  at,  199. 
'I  in  i- 

Tomuure  and  Poundage,  168. 
Tower.  Princes  murdered  lu  the,  156. 
Tory. 

Wedmore,    63 ;    Northamp 

I 15;  Breda,  846;  Dovei 
Mmeguen,  248 ;  Limerick, 
960;  Ryswlck,  M2;  Utrechl    3d  I;  Alx- 
l.i-i  napelle,  I 

I.Qnevllle,  286;  Amicus, 

uncil  of,  175. 

Tyler,  Wat,  I 

William.  ' 

ilt,  801, 


n  mlty,  Aci  >>f.  844. 
"  United  Irishmen,"  886. 
United  States,  i 

Vane,  sir  Barn 
Verulamlut 

Victoria,  Queen,  895;  Em| 

Vlenn .:.  i    ogress  of,  890. 

Vikings, 

Villlers,   George,   Duke  of  Buckingham, 

»; death,  814. 
Vortigern, 

Wales.  Annexation  (,r.  ISO;  Incorporated 
with  England,  177. 

Wallace,  William,  121. 

Walpole,  Robert,  81 1. 
ogham,  sir  Francis, 

Walter.  Hubert,  105,  108. 

Warbeck,  Perkln,  161, 

Warwick,  Karl  of,  158,154. 

War,  Hundred  Veers',  189,  14a 

War  of  Spanish  Succession,  80S. 

War.  Second,  "f  United  stales  with  En- 
gland, 891. 

Washington,  George,  876,281. 

Wellington,  889. 

Welsh,  origin  of  name,  14. 

Wentwortb,  sir  Thomas,  Karl  of  Strafford, 
818,  215;  beheaded, 

Wesleys,  The,  1 

Wessez,  14 ;  conversion  of ,  53 ;  supremacy 
of,  58. 

Westminster  Assembly,  887. 

Wexford,  Massacre  of,  888. 

Whig,  849. 

Whip  "f  six  striiiL's,  172. 

Whitby,  By I  "f,  54. 

Wlcllf,  ./'"I. n.  i 

W  Ight,  Isle  of,  ii. 

Wilkes,  John,  879. 

William  II.  <i;nru>>,  87. 

William  111..  857. 

William  IV.,  898. 

William  <•!  Malmesbiirj 

William  of    Normandy,  74;  king  of  En- 
gland,  177 :  death,  v. . 

Willia f    i naiiL'e,    Btadtholdei     24'  . 

marriage,  848;  In  England,  256;  king, 
in.  -'1,1. 

William  the  silent.  196,  IDT. 

Wlnchelsey,  Archblsbi  p 

Wltenagemot,  17,  Bl. 

Wolfe,  General, 

Wolsey,  Thomas,  Cardinal,  166,  167. 

Wykeham,  William  "f,  i  ■  '. 


York,  archbishopric  of,  54. 
^ ' <  > r k .  House  "f.  |51. 
j  hk  Ireland,"  808, 


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H 


^^^^^^^^S 

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